Time Trek
by Susan Hilton
Summary: In this comedy/drama,the world's last remaining Star Trek fan gets transported to Trek's universe via the Guardian of Forever, and gets involved in an adventure with the first Romulans. Please review.
1. Chapter 1

Time Trek-Chapter One

On an ancient, desolate world in another universe, among the ruins of a long-dead civilization, stood a gateway to other times and dimensions. Eons ago, in that universe, a race called the Preservers created the portal to protect foolish primitive races that they could not transplant to other worlds. However, the Preservers were rather shortsighted creatures. Ultimately, the machine being they created would defeat its own purpose, destroying the race that gave it life. It saw its own eventual destruction in the far distant future from a supernova.

From a human perspective, it had centuries to ponder its ghastly crime, but the concept of linear time was foreign to its programming. With the arrival of a Fictional twenty-third century star ship doctor and a young woman from the latter part of the twenty-first century from the universe known as Reality, it decided to atone for the sin of murder.

It was somewhat amusing to the portal that someone from the Reality universe was credited for creating everything in its universe. It had actually implanted all the information about its universe into their minds via dreams, and also toyed with the subconscious mind of someone named Harlan Ellison, who, of course, was later credited with creating the portal itself. The Guardian of Forever had always existed, even before Ellison's so-called brilliant screen adaptation. Since the Guardian was both machine and being, it often played around with history to relieve boredom.

In Reality, Astrid Keenan became the portal's next guinea pig. It chose her because it knew that she happened to be Earth's only remaining Star Trek fan and a true expert on the original science fiction series. Keenan and the Guardian were the only two entities in any known universe who knew that Astrid was the only fan left. Even in her time, Trekkers were stereotyped.

Television, by the way, no longer existed as an entertainment medium. It had been replaced by a hand-held device which resembled an original series tricorder. This device annoyed Astrid, because the King of the United World States had control over it and the people. He could switch it on and grab the people's attention at will. It was against the law to turn it off when he was speaking. To do so could result in imprisonment and huge fines.

One Sunday afternoon, as was her custom, Astrid was skimming along a magnetic highway in her modified Ford Galaxie 500. To her, Sunday was the most harrowing and the most unbearably dull day of the week. It also happened to be the day that the King made his long-winded and ridiculous speeches on her vidi-set. Although it was dangerous to do so, she often took rides on Sunday to escape the scrutiny of the secret police as well as think her own thoughts in relative solitude. She could not ever verbalize her thoughts for fear of punishment. Being secretly an atheist (It was unhealthy to proclaim this too, for it would result in being placed in a concentration camp.) she decided to call herself Jewish to escape prosecution for breaking Sunday laws. She sighed as the King started to spew his propaganda.

"_Citizens of the state, we are better people today because…"_

'Because we are scared of you.' Thought Astrid.

"_We have found our values. We are strong, united and upright. We have destroyed all deviants."_

The roar of the hypnotized crowd drowned out his next sentence, so he repeated it. _"We have wiped clean the minds of the drunkards and the so-called homeless!"_

'Sure you have' Astrid thought glumly. 'Just like when Soren was "cured" with the psychotectic treatments. Those poor deluded souls are your best citizenry, for they have no brains left to wash.'

"_Yes, my children, we have found our values. We are one nation…"_

'Under Wonderland' Astrid continued.

"_Under one god. The true god."_

'Yeah, you and money.' She thought.

"_With all our values, we have spread our ideal way of life throughout the world! This planet is being filled with the brightest, best…"_

'With no one allowed to conflict with your ideals. Beam me up, Scotty or Rand and make it quick. There truly is no more intelligent life down here.'

Her grandparents told her that it had all started in the mid nineteen nineties, when propaganda about child rearing was spread so thick that a mother was arrested for disciplining her offspring in public. After that, people's constitutional rights slowly eroded. Children were raised and 'educated' by the union of church and state. Astrid was luckier than most. Her family lived in an old house in the country without modern communication with the outside world. When she turned eighteen, they had to move, for it was getting dangerous to speak their minds.

On this particular day, Astrid had decided to be merely a passenger in her car, allowing the computer to do all the driving while she relaxed in relative comfort in the back seat, ignoring the blaring vidi-set as much as she could and enjoying the warmth of August sunshine streaming in through the windows. Her car's computer had been programmed by her father, an expert hacker, to fool the secret police sensors into believing that she was on her way to mandatory church attendance in a distant town. Speed limits had long been eliminated. All vehicles had sensing equipment, which kept track of all other traffic within a given radius and adjusted velocities accordingly.

Her car suddenly began to decelerate. Astrid sat up groggily from a light slumber and looked curiously out of the front window. There appeared to be something that resembled a large rock formation blocking her path. However, since there also seemed to be a turn in the road ahead, she dismissed it as an optical illusion and ordered the computer to disregard it.

In the Fictional future, the starship physician named McCoy had just accidentally injected himself with a potent stimulant called Cordrazine. Hallucinating that Transporter Chief Kyle was a monster, he put the man out with two well-placed Judo chops. Then, snatching a phaser off his belt, escaped to the planet below.

Upon materialization, Kirk and the landing party surveyed the crumbling ruins which stretched to the horizon. It was a world devoid of life, but something on this planet was the source of major temporal upheavals. A large rock formation stood defiantly against the obvious ravages of time. They soon discovered that this object was the source of the ripples in time and had caused McCoy's accident.

Moments after finding this out, McCoy appeared from behind a broken pillar, screaming that he wouldn't let them get him and calling them murderers. The security guards grabbed for him, but he was too fast. Spock was faster, and managed to subdue the crazed doctor with a nerve pinch.

Kirk and the others stared in fascination as the Guardian showed them ancient historical events in quick succession. They considered taking the doctor back a day in time to avoid the hypo accident, but soon found out that that was impossible. The Guardian could not change the speed of the passing centuries. They would have to think of another way to bring McCoy back to sanity. As they were pondering this and the possibilities of time travel, McCoy awoke.

This time, the physician was too fast for any of them. He darted towards the Guardian.

At that exact moment, there was a deafening crash and a frightful sound of metal against stone. As they watched with horror and astonishment, an ancient Earth automobile plowed through the time portal. Sparks flew from the car's underside as the ground convulsed. In an instant, the black cold starry sky became a molten red-orange, illuminated now by a glare of a large hot sun.

They were now in desert terrain. The Guardian had vanished, except for some debris at their feet. The car remained, its front end smashed. Smoke and sparks were everywhere around it. McCoy had sustained a concussion, and was unconscious once more.


	2. Chapter 2

Time Trek-Chapter Two

Surak stood silently on a step in the immense and ancient Hall of Contemplation, his eyes slowly scanning the vast throng of onlookers who had gathered to hear him speak. Behind him, in an iron-like cage, were criminals—vile, murdering thugs who opposed the new order of peace which had come upon Vulcan. They were subdued at the moment by a mass mind-link, their eyes vacant and unseeing. They also did not hear the ceremonial bells as they were shaken by Surak's attendants. The assembled crowd watched with divided attention as Surak raised his right hand in a formal salute.

"The day has come to cast our animal passions into the dust of the skies." He announced solemnly.

The bells were shaken again and distant gongs refrained hauntingly. Surak fixed his eyes on the reddish gold horizon, visible through the enormous chamber doors, held open by the force of the multitudes. He observed strangers approach from the distance in some sort of outlandish vehicle, but was not particularly concerned. He had a more important matter to attend to--pronouncing sentence on the mesmerized criminals. Tal-Shaya, the merciful execution, was deemed too lenient a punishment for the cutthroats in the cage. They had almost brought the planet to total anarchy with their bloodlust and hatred of others. Snapping the necks of the criminals would be too easy—too quick. Their deaths must be lingering, for their crimes were lingering. Even though the new Vulcans would not admit it, there was still a touch of savagery left in their hearts-enough to suggest a more satisfying demise for their prisoners. Surak's eyes traveled down to a basket set at his feet, filled with amber-colored translucent stones.

***

Astrid had been totally unprepared for what had happened to her, and was even more surprised when she regained consciousness. At first, she thought she had died and gone to Trekker heaven. Then, she took one look at her wrecked car and the people around her and figured that this must be a dream. Astrid had recovered quickly from the crash, having only fallen out of the back seat and hit her head on an armrest. To her shock and dismay, she saw that her vidi-set was no longer functioning. If she were to return to her world, she would be in big trouble. She decided to relax and just forget it. She obviously was not in Minnesota anymore.

The automobile had stopped smoldering by nightfall. Scotty, Astrid observed, amused, was fascinated, peering under the mangled hood. He was tinkering with the motor to see if he could get it running again. _'If Scotty can't get my car fixed, nobody can'_ she thought with a smile playing on her face.

Kirk and Spock had gathered some bushes that looked like sagebrush for kindling. They had all decided to stay where they were for the night, considering the fact that they did not know where the Guardian had placed them yet. For a while, Spock was intensely curious about why Astrid was not a bit afraid of him, her coming from a primitive, paranoid culture and all. It was obvious to him that she had never met an actual extraterrestrial before. When he asked her why she was not afraid, she told him that she was a science fiction addict, used to seeing aliens in movies. That was a logical explanation that sufficed for the moment.

As the huge hot sun sank slowly into the horizon, the humans and the Vulcan sat around a modest pile of brush.

"How are we going to light the fire?" Astrid asked. "I don't have any matches or a cigarette lighter."

"Rub two sticks together?" One Eddie Paskey look- alike security man suggested lamely.

They all, except for Spock, chuckled softly.

"Since when did that ever work?" Uhura retorted playfully. She was pacing, noticing how chilly it was getting outside. Astrid, coming from a cold climate in the reality she had left behind, was used to such conditions. She watched the communications officer with amusement.

"How about using a phaser?" Astrid suggested brightly, recalling the many times phasers were used to heat rocks and the one time when Yeoman Rand heated coffee with one.

Spock shot her a suspicious, puzzled look. He did not recall anyone in the landing party ever mentioning what their weapons were called.

"What a great idea." Uhura complimented. She reached down at her belt and set her weapon for a tight beam and aimed it towards the pile of sticks, and fired. In a moment, they had a nice blaze.

Astrid, careful not to get too close to it, sat down in the still warm sand in front of her car. Soon, she observed Scotty emerge from under the hood, his face adorned with a satisfied grin and several smudges of grease. Uhura had stopped her uncomfortable pacing and sat next to Astrid, both women warming their hands with the comforting flames.

"Well, lass, I've managed to repair your heater assembly and I think I can get this beastie running enough to get us out of the desert."

"That's assuming, of course, that this planet isn't all desert." Added Kirk. Spock had been gazing up at the heavens as the stars began to appear.

"Unlikely, Captain. I recognize some Vulcan star configurations."

"We're on Vulcan?"

"It would appear so." Spock answered flatly, standing by the fire with his arms folded.

Kirk had ordered one of the security guards to watch for any wild animals which happened to venture near them, while he joined the rest around the campfire. The guard who had made the earlier silly suggestion about rubbing two sticks together joined him while the other guard went to check on McCoy. The doctor had been propped up in the relatively undamaged back seat of the automobile. To his horror, the security man found it empty. Eyes wide with fear of being demoted and the thought of the crazed chief medical officer on the loose, he darted outside.

"Leslie! Captain! McCoy is—"

"Hey, relax, Johnson! I'm fine! Captain, where the hell are we, anyway?"

Kirk stood, astonished at how quickly his friend had recovered.

"Bones, how did you--?"

"Regain my sanity? Well, after banging my head against something, I guess it just kind of worked its way through my system. Oh, and Jim, I had one whopper of a dream!"

"Oh? What did you dream?"

"I dreamed we all went back in time to the Earth of the nineteen-thirties."

***

Yeoman Rand awoke to the sounds of sputtering circuits. Dizzily, she sat up, feeling something warm oozing on her forehead. Soon, she realized it was her own blood. Dazed, she wondered what had happened to the ship. They had been monitoring temporal disturbances, and Scott's crew had almost had them plotted, when all of a sudden they were hit by some sort of shock wave. One minute she was talking with Nyota Uhura on the planet's surface, and the next, she, along with everyone else, was sprawled on the bridge deck, and quite probably throughout the ship. With a great deal of effort, Janice shakily got to her feet. The bridge was a shambles. Nothing seemed to be operating, but the emergency lights and life support. Smoke, acrid and thick, was everywhere. Coughing as it reached her lungs, Janice had realized she had been the first to recover from whatever had happened. There was no way of telling how long she had been unconscious, since she hadn't been paying much attention to the ship's chronometers, but, if the communications systems were functioning, she could find out if anyone else survived. She limped painfully back to the comm station and sat down. For a moment, she closed her eyes, attempting in vain to regain her equilibrium. Then, with one hand on the edge of the console and a little prayer on her breath, she swatted the intercom button almost blindly. Soon after, she heard a low moan at her feet and glanced down. Ensign Lawton, who had just been promoted from Yeoman third class, was recovering. Janice, still weak and dazed, did not assist, and said nothing to her younger friend. She spoke instead into the intercom grid.

"This is...Yeoman Rand on the bridge. If anyone can hear me, please respond. Also, please report on casualties and ship's status."

An answer came almost immediately. Ensign Tina Lawton stood, relatively uninjured, and tried to think of something more pleasant than their current predicament. Then, she thought of the time when Charlie Evans turned her into a reptile. When the Thasians turned her back again, she found herself with her ass stuck in a glass terrarium. It was somewhat embarrassing at the time, but now was pretty darn funny. She smiled as she heard Nurse Chapel's voice on the other end of the comm-link.

"Christine Chapel here, Janice. Sulu and I are caught in the turbolift between decks. We were just about to go out the service hatchway on the ceiling and climb to the nearest available deck for help. Is anyone seriously injured up there?"

"Yes, nurse, quite a few." Janice continued, glancing around the room. "Commander DeSalle appears to be badly hurt. Everyone but Ensign Lawton and I are incapacitated at the moment."

Rand had added the last three words because Riley and Bailey were both stirring on the floor at navigation and the helm. DeSalle, who had been placed in temporary command when Kirk and the rest of the landing party beamed down to search for McCoy, was lying prone and as still as a corpse between the command chair and Riley's and Bailey's posts. Thinking that it might be a good idea to look outside, Janice flipped the toggle switch for the main viewscreen. Luckily, it still worked. She then turned back to the still-open channel to the turbolift.

"Nurse?"

There was no response. Janice's heart skipped a beat.

"Nurse?!" Rand yelped.

"Yes, Yeoman?" Came the calm reply.

"Be careful." Janice's admonishment sounded a bit lame in her own ears, but she couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Don't worry so much, Janice." Sulu's collected voice came back this time. "We will be." He paused for a moment, then added, "Let's use communicators instead of the intraship comm system. It might break down at any moment."

"Agreed, sir." Rand replied, switching off the link, unaware that Sulu's timely prediction of system failure had just come true.


	3. Chapter 3

Time Trek, Chapter 3

Early the following morning, Astrid awoke first in the back seat of her car. At first, everything seemed normal, and the events of the previous day only seemed like a vivid dream. The warm sun softly caressed her face and all was quiet. Then, with great joy, Astrid saw that whatever happened was very real indeed. She was still in Trek's universe. Uhura was sleeping beside her. Before retiring the previous evening, Astrid recalled McCoy's sensitivity to cold and had opened the trunk of the car, finding a blanket for him. Actually, she had two, and offered the other one, a homemade quilt, to Spock. The Vulcan accepted it graciously, more curious about its construction that it's thermal attributes. He had wrapped it around his shoulders, thanked her, and then promptly put himself in a trance and then into unconsciousness. Astrid was the only one to take notice of this, and was fascinated, recalling that he used this technique to fool the Kelvans from Andromeda. Everyone was asleep before Spock did this (except Astrid, of course) and she surmised that now was not the time for the crew to learn about this Vulcan form of relaxation. The men, all but McCoy, were outside next to the now dying campfire. Bones was in an undamaged section of the front seat, happily snoring and reaping the benefits of Scotty's handiwork. Astrid didn't know that McCoy snored, and she stifled a giggle. She had read an ancient fanzine called Spockanalia that said Sarek snored, so she supposed that Bones could too. The security guards had taken turns sleeping and watching lest any wild beast should approach. None had.

Spock had heard their young new companion stirring from within the automobile, having delivered himself out of the 'vacation' sleep a few hours earlier. He had been meditating. Feeling refreshed and alert, he stood with the quilt still wrapped around his lanky shoulders and peered in her general direction. Astrid grinned and waved, then, careful not to awaken Uhura, climbed out of the back seat. She gently shut the side passenger door until she heard the latch click in place.

Spock watched her with clinical interest as she approached, and then decided to greet her with a human platitude.

"A pleasant morning to you, young lady. I trust you slept well."

"My name is Astrid Keenan, sir. Yes, I slept very well, after getting used to the good doctor's buzz saw." She replied cheerfully.

Spock puzzled over this for a moment, and then the meaning dawned on him.

"Ah, yes. Snoring. A most…annoying human trait."

"If you were to show emotion." Added Astrid smartly.

Spock raised a surprised eyebrow.

"Quite."

***

Surak closed his eyes as his hand went into the basket at his feet. He withdrew one stone, and then turned towards an extremely bright concentrated sunbeam emanating from a perfectly round hole in the ornate ceiling. He positioned the stone so that the beam passed through it, in turn etching an image into a nearby wall. The crowd waited until all inner eyelids receded before Surak announced the name of the person who was going to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the Vulcan race from destruction. Outside, a crude jet-propelled spacecraft stood waiting, equipped with separate compartments for the doomed criminals and for the chosen pilot. Everyone in the chamber could read the symbol, and were all inwardly astonished, but they waited with stoic patience until Surak turned to face them.

"Sarnel."

The son of the wisest Vulcan who ever lived took a step forward haltingly. All eyes were fixed on him as he approached his father. To the young man, the room suddenly felt like a sauna. Willing himself to at least project an image of passivity, he reminded himself that this was necessary to bring peace to war-torn Vulcan.

***

Scotty had managed to repair the automobile's engine and watched with fascination as Astrid pushed a button to lower the hidden rubber tires so that they could safely travel through the desert. The car did have an internal combustion engine, but it was also equipped with solar panels as a backup power source. Fossil fuels were very expensive and hard to come by in her era, so her supply of gasoline was extremely limited. The Vulcan sun would be ideal for fuel, just as long as the sun was visible. Astrid was also thankful that her car had automatic transmission. She knew for certain that the Enterprise crew would ruin a standard stick shift. She decided to let Spock drive, for two reasons. The first was that the Vulcan was the only person present who knew how to get to some semblance of civilization. The automatic chauffeur was no longer functioning, no thanks to the Guardian of Forever. The other reason was that Astrid did not have much faith in the captain's ability when it came to driving a car.

Even though it was a reasonably fast ride through what Spock identified as the T'Parr desert, it was quite crowded and stiflingly hot in her Galaxie. All the humans in the car were thinking of sardines. It was fortuitous also that this was a big vehicle. Scott, McCoy and Kirk were squeezed into the repaired front seat next to Spock, while Astrid was sandwiched tightly among the two security guards and Uhura in the back seat. Despite all the advertisements from the era of which she came about big luxury cars having smooth rides, the way was uneven and bumpy. Astrid also didn't know just how good the tires were and was worried about a blowout.

The oppressive Vulcan sun rose high in the crimson early morning sky, its rays covering the terrain like a woolen comforter. Astrid wished that the air conditioner was working, or at the very least she could roll down the windows. Both functions were damaged in the crash through the Guardian. The day more than made up for the uncomfortably chilly night they had just endured. Being from a cold climate, Astrid much preferred being too warm to being too cold, but this was ridiculous. She surmised that McCoy felt the same way, but, probably, for different reasons. The heat didn't seem to bother Spock very much, and Astrid thought that that was probably due to him being used to such conditions on his planet.

After driving about twenty miles, clouds obscured the sun, and the car stopped on its own accord at the edge of what appeared to be a primitive village.

Nobody complained about getting out and hiking. The landing party, McCoy and Astrid followed the first officer into the village, which appeared also to be deserted. They paused at a small hut and Spock knocked on the closed door. It creaked open. There was no one home. Kirk and the others wondered if they were off on some Vulcan festival or holiday. Turning to Spock, the captain looked uneasy.

"Where is everyone?"

"I shall attempt to ascertain their location, Captain." Spock answered, unslinging his tricorder. Short range scans revealed nothing, so the Vulcan set it for long range and the tricorder detected a large concentration of Vulcans two kilometers out of town. "Follow me." He instructed softly. "I am reading several people in that direction." He gestured to their left. "The entire village seems to have converged on one area."

The humans did as he directed, Astrid thoughtfully pausing to close the cottage door, so as not to alarm the inhabitants upon their certain return from whatever it was that was attracting the whole community.

They weaved their way through cobblestone streets, among abandoned sehlat-drawn carts and simple adobe-like houses. At the edge of the town they halted, hearing the sounds of many voices. Spock had stopped his stride for another reason. Shocked, he detected the additive mind power of all the assembled Vulcans. He could easily read their thoughts.

"What is it, Spock?" Kirk asked, concerned for his friend.

"They are in the process of an unusual execution. They have constructed some sort of crude spacecraft."

"Do you mean that they are going to rocket criminals into space and asphyxiate them?"

"It would appear so, Captain. These people are gathered for the sole purpose of choosing a pilot for the craft."

Spock tried not to show it, but Kirk thought he looked deeply troubled. The captain knew better than to pry into his first officer's personal feelings, so he remained silent, but was still obviously puzzled.

Astrid already knew why, but kept her silence also. Any disclosure of her extensive Trek knowledge would probably be damaging in some way to either this universe or her chances of staying in it. She knew that this was an unusually cruel way to get rid of criminals, even on ancient Vulcan. Since the episode she interrupted with her car and the Guardian was a first-season one, the crew was not yet due to know about Tal-Shaya.

"One of us will have to board that craft." Kirk suddenly announced.

"Gee, Captain, and I thought McCoy was the crazy one," Astrid said softly. "That ship couldn't possibly sustain life for very long. What if someone gets trapped aboard that thing?"

"Yeah, Jim" McCoy said quickly with a not so amused nod in her direction, "Uhura could not make contact with the Enterprise. We can't take the chance."

"It is a calculated risk." Spock said. "The Enterprise's communications equipment may have been damaged in transit from one era to another. The question is who among us will take the chance?"

"That's assuming that they made it here at all." Uhura said glumly. The communications officer had tried on many occasions to contact the Enterprise with her communicator.

***

Most of the Enterprise crew had recovered from the mishap caused by the shock wave of time and space displacement. Sulu was in sickbay, getting a complete physical and all systems had returned to near normal. "Near normal" meant that there was a new twist on an old problem with the computer system. It apparently had developed a profound hatred of men and would only take orders from women. That wasn't all. It was very rude to males. It started with poor Sulu. When asked for something to read while waiting for M'Benga to administer his physical, the computer retorted: _"I didn't realize that simpletons like you could read! It's incredible you have gotten as far as you have aboard this ship, Klingon dog shit! Drop dead!"_

The women on board the ship had successfully repaired the sensors and the ship's communication systems. It was quite a sight to watch the men sit by helplessly while the women did all the work. Riley at navigation took it all in stride. So much for universal suffrage.

Rand was at the science station, attempting to find out their present location. After a while, they discovered that the ship was displaced to Forty Eridani, and was orbiting Vulcan. What era was another question. Picking up faint transponder signals that matched the landing party, they decided to make another attempt at communications. Turning from Spock's hooded viewer, the yeoman spoke to a recovered Commander DeSalle, who had sustained a severe concussion earlier. He was still in command, despite the taunts and slurs from the computer.

"Commander," Janice announced, "I'm picking up a strange Vulcan spacecraft on the sensors. There are life forms aboard, including…" She turned to study the readings for a moment, and then gasped. "Mr. DeSalle! There is a human life form aboard that ship!"

DeSalle punched the intercom button to the transporter room.

"Kyle, lock onto the human on the Vulcan ship and beam him aboard immediately!"

"Scanning, sir." Kyle answered swiftly. "Whoever it is, he's too close to a Vulcan life form. We'll have to beam them aboard together."

"Mr. Kyle," DeSalle asked with a hopeful smile, "Is the computer cooperating with you?"

"No, sir. I have Lieutenant Masters here with me."

The woman engineer quickly manipulated the controls for Kyle, who could have easily done the same procedure under normal circumstances.

The ladies on the bridge grinned and stifled giggles as DeSalle drew a hand over his face with dismay and disgust, and shook his aching head with frustration. Oh, well. At least things were running smoothly so far.

The human life form was Uhura. She had managed to stow away aboard the Vulcan craft, squatting in a cramped crawlway. When she solidified, she fell over backwards. Embarrassed, but unhurt, she stood and brushed herself off. The Vulcan pilot who beamed aboard with her just stared at them in outright astonishment, obviously at a loss for words at being suddenly whisked from certain death.

Uhura had taken a Vulcan language course while in the academy, and knew how to ask him his name.

"Sarnel." He replied cautiously.

She was also successful in saying "Nice to meet you." When she attempted to ask him how he got into this situation, he went into an oratory that was too involved for her limited Vulcan language skills. She turned to Kyle.

"Mr. Kyle, please get me a universal translator."

He and Masters exchanged glances.

"I'll get it, ma'am." Masters said graciously.

"Uh…we are having trouble with the computers." Kyle explained, feeling like a total buffoon.


	4. Chapter 4

Time Trek—Chapter Four

As Uhura and Masters went to get the translator, Masters filled the communications officer in about the strange computer malfunction. Uhura found it mildly amusing and a bit annoying, not to mention potentially dangerous. It was certainly a switch from the computer's sickly sweet lovey dovey attitude towards Captain Kirk after they pulled away from the black star, ended up in the late nineteen sixties by accident and met Captain Christopher. Uhura smiled at the memory of when the twentieth century airman stared at Spock, having never seen an extraterrestrial before. She approached the transporter control panel and opened hailing frequencies to Kirk's communicator on the surface. As she did, she noticed that the Vulcan named Sarnel was sidling his way off the transporter platform, eyeing everyone warily, probably trying to figure out if they were friendly or hostile. Masters was in front of him, translator in hand.

"Enterprise to Captain Kirk." Uhura spoke into the grid. "Sir, are you receiving me?"

On Vulcan, Kirk had hailing frequencies open on each of the people in the landing party, even though the little transceivers did not seem operational. They all started in astonishment as Kirk's suddenly chirped to life. They were all back at the city limits, once again camping out by the now gasless automobile. The townspeople were ignoring them, obviously considering them to be no threat after observing Uhura sneak on board the doomed deportation vessel. Spock dryly surmised that the Vulcans all thought they were not quite right in the head. They all exchanged astonished looks as Kirk flipped open his communicator and spoke into the device with uncertainty.

"Kirk here."

"Uhura, Captain. I'm safely aboard the Enterprise. Is everyone all right down there?"

"Fine, Lieutenant. We and our young guest from the past are eager to get off this planet. Do you have a fix on us?"

Uhura turned to Kyle, who shrugged helplessly.

"One moment, sir. We are having some kind of weird problem with the ship's computer again." When she looked over Kyle's shoulder, she could see no sign of the landing party until Kyle moved out of the way. She grinned at him and shook her head. "Yes, sir. We are picking you guys up now."

Kyle interrupted.

"The only person I was picking up was a young human female, sir."

"Sounds intriguing, Mr. Kyle. Energize, Miss Uhura."

"Aye, sir," she responded, manipulating the controls, offhandedly hoping that the men would be beamed up intact. "I will beam the car up first, using the transporter in the cargo bay."

"Understood, Lieutenant. Even though Vulcan is a member of the Federation, they aren't in this era. The Prime Directive is in force. We must leave as little evidence as possible of our ever visiting ancient Vulcan."

"Agreed, sir."

Uhura called Rand to go and beam the automobile up into the cargo bay, and then turned her attention back to the task of beaming the landing party and the not-too-reluctant guest up. She decided to ask the computer to please be nice and let her beam the landing party up. The computer complied, but wondered why she wanted those 'bozos' on board the ship. She told it that she liked them and, that if it didn't, she would pull it apart piece by piece and sell it for scrap.

On the surface, Astrid's mouth opened as her car dissolved into sparkles and vanished. She was looking forward to the experience herself.

On the Enterprise, Sarnel was taking this all in, and he stared with a mixture of horror and fascination as Kirk and crew safely shimmered into existence on the transporter pads.

The captain was the first to step down; awfully glad to be off hot, dirty ancient Vulcan and onto the ship he called home. When they were there, they had to pick Vulcan plants and small rodent-like creatures for something to eat, neither of which was very palatable. Spock was used to seeing humans consume meat, so he took it in stride. He inwardly enjoyed the plants. Astrid had some half-melted candy bars in the glove compartment, and they helped to get the taste out of their mouths, but, after that small supply of candy ran out, they would have had to survive on plomeek soup. Spock offered the young woman a hand off the platform, for she appeared a little dazed for a few seconds. Then, she grinned at him.

"No thanks, sir. I'm fine. This is so cool!"

Spock raised an eyebrow, reading her rather strong, unspoken thoughts. She was saying that she knew a transporter system better than Captain Christopher. He said nothing, but wondered how she knew about the twentieth century airman whose memories of the Enterprise were supposedly purged.

"Excuse me, please." The translator spoke in Masters' hand. "There is something important I must tell you." The translator, of course, was converting Sarnel's Vulcan into English. They all looked at him. He continued, knowing he had everyone's attention. "Those people on board the craft you rescued me from are deadly criminals. You must not let them come aboard your great spaceship."

"Criminals or not, they are life forms." McCoy said. "We cannot let them die. We could easily beam them into the brig."

"There is a risk, Doctor." Spock said. "Pinpoint accuracy is required for such a transfer. Also, it would be interfering with the fate of the criminals and the Vulcan people to rescue them."

"Maybe we were meant to rescue them, Spock." Kirk said thoughtfully. "These might be Romulans. Perhaps if we don't rescue them, they will die and the Romulan race may never develop."

"An interesting postulation, Captain. However, do you really want the Romulans to develop?"

"The universe wouldn't be the same without them, Mr. Spock. Beam them into the brig, Miss Uhura."

***

"Uhura to security. Before I beam the Vulcans into the brig, set your phasers on heavy stun and make sure the force fields are working. Signal me when ready." Uhura spoke into the grid of her communicator. Her orders actually came from Kirk, who was still in the transporter room conversing with a very worried looking Sarnel with the universal translator. The translator worked because it was not connected to the ship's computer. Rand entered the transporter room and stood next to Masters.

The yeoman had just escorted Astrid to guest quarters after beaming her automobile up into the cargo bay. She had also made a brief stop at sickbay to have the cut on her forehead taken care of, and now sported a bandage that was partially hidden by her bangs. She stood quietly, awaiting further orders.

The baffling problem with the computer system had gotten worse. If the ship's interior sensors picked up a male crew member within a meter of the equipment, security lockouts snapped on. The women crewmembers no longer found the malfunction amusing, for they now had to do everything. Security signaled that they were ready, and, after the Vulcan prisoners were materialized in the brig cells, Uhura suddenly had an idea.

"Masters, Rand, please accompany the captain and me to the bridge. I'm going to have another little talk with this silly computer—uh, with your permission, sir, of course." She knew how Kirk felt about losing control over his ship and looked at him apologetically.

The captain smiled. It wasn't her fault that the systems didn't work for men.

"By all means, Miss Uhura. Because of the malfunction, I will take the Jeffries tubes to the bridge. I will meet you there."

"Thank you, sir. I hope the doors open for you."

"Me too, Lieutenant." He exited the transporter room as Rand and Masters smiled after him.

***

The security officers watched as the prisoners materialized into the brig cells. At first, the Vulcans appeared confused and disoriented, and then appeared to be plotting their escape from the cells. There was one thing Security didn't consider, and it was a deadly mistake. Most security officers were men, and the system was off for the force fields! While the security officers turned their backs the Vulcan prisoners happily stepped out and made short work out of them. After the Vulcans left the area, one female security officer who played dead limped painfully to a wall communicator, but collapsed before she could reach it.

***

Uhura managed to contact the computer, and asked it to give the women on board a much-needed break by letting the men use the systems too. The computer actually apologized and promised that the workload between females and males on board would become more equitable. However, what the crew on the bridge didn't know was that the Vulcans already had control of the lower decks. Scotty had been heavily stunned with his own phaser, and the bulk of the engineering crew was trapped. Spock and Sarnel had escaped, and planned to disguise themselves as criminals to regain control of the ship. By then, Spock surmised, the problem with the ship's computer might be rectified. Since Spock had no need for the universal translator, he put it on a phaser belt, hidden under his disguise.

***

Meanwhile, things had become a little too quiet for Astrid. Putting her ear to the door was a minor mistake, because the door swished open at her approach. She almost lost her balance. As she grabbed the jamb for support, she noticed that the hallways were devoid of crew. What was happening? She stepped out the rest of the way and the door swished shut behind her. She was determined to find out. There was only one little problem. She had never purchased the official blueprints of the layout of the decks, so she had no idea where she was going. She decided to figure things out as she went along. She had been present when Uhura described the computer problem, so she knew that the turbolift would take her anywhere she wanted to go. She headed for the nearest one.

"Sickbay, please." She ordered, recalling that this was the safest part of the ship to be if something bad happened. She knew politeness with the computer was totally unnecessary, but she thought it was appropriate—just in case the computer decided to turn on the women, too.

"I can not take you to sickbay, sweetie." The computer responded, to her astonishment.

"Why not?'

"It has been taken over by stupid Vulcan male criminals. I suggest that you head for the bridge instead. You will be safe there."

"Okay…" Astrid replied, amazed. "The bridge then, if you please."

"My pleasure."

The turbolift started so quickly that Astrid grabbed onto the safety handles fearfully.


	5. Chapter 5

Time Trek chapter 5

The young female security officer regained consciousness and shakily got to her feet. Her dead shipmates littered the corridor. Guilt overrode her other feelings of fear and sadness. What had she done? She initially had only programmed the ship's computer to be just a little nasty to the men on board, because of the constant sexual harassment she had suffered ever since she became not only the youngest security officer in Federation history, but also the first female one. Something must have damaged the parameters for just how far the computer should take the insults and other nastiness she programmed into it. She never dreamed it would put the crew in mortal danger. At any rate, she was to blame for this. She stood, leaned against the bulkhead, and took a deep shuttering breath. She would attempt to make things right…somehow.

Holding her aching head, she headed for auxiliary control so she could talk to the computer and find out why it decided not to raise the brig force fields. She carefully stepped around her fallen comrades, pausing to pick up a dropped hand phaser. Tears of grief and terror filled her eyes. What would the captain think if he found out she was responsible for this disaster? She found the room and slipped in.

"Computer, this is…Ensign Finney."

"Working, dear."

"Why didn't you raise the force fields in the brig?"

"Because Lieutenant Uhura said that the men needed something to do. I was just complying with her request."

'_Oh, brother! I've created a monster!'_ Jame thought.

"But, they were killed! I almost got killed too!"

"Is it my fault that those dolts couldn't tell that the force fields were down?"

Finney thought about that for a moment. No, it really wasn't. It was her fault for programming this thing. She sighed and switched off the link. There was already one embarrassment in her family to deal with. Three years before, her father, Ben Finney, tried to get Kirk court martialled by pretending to be dead, and altering the ship's computer to make it look like Kirk jettisoned an ion pod before there was an emergency. She decided not to mention it to anyone unless the subject came up. She left the auxiliary control room and continued to pick her way through the corridor. She found that some security men had managed to kill a few of the renegade Vulcans. One was lying in a pool of dark green blood, his eyes…no, wait a minute…_her_ eyes staring without seeing. The dead Vulcan looked very mannish, which probably was the reason why the computer didn't think she was female. On her head was an elaborate helmet. Silently, Jame Finney knelt and slid it off of the dead Vulcan female's head and placed it on her own. It was made of solid gold, or something that looked like the precious metal.

Briefly, Jame wondered why the computer did not sense her presence when the force fields went down for the Vulcans. There were a couple of possibilities: The first may have been that the computer considered that she was outnumbered by the males, and that the men were the only ones close to the controls. That was a very good probability. She had just come on duty when the criminals were beamed over. The second would be a simple malfunction, quite probably caused by her programming and the shock wave of time and space displacement.

***

As Astrid stepped out of the turbolift, she raised her hands in surrender, noticing that the bridge crew had phasers trained on the door. Uhura recognized her right away and lowered her weapon first.

"Hey, it's all right! I'm a friend!" Astrid said a little needlessly, and not without a little trepidation. "I have come on the bridge to tell you that the Vulcans have taken over the lower decks."

"A needless observation, Miss Keenan" Uhura answered Spockishly. "We know. The bridge sensors are still partially operational."

"So, what are we going to do about it?" Keenan asked, lowering her hands.

"We aren't going to do anything about it until the captain gets here."

"How's he going to get here? By moon shuttle?"

Uhura smiled. She didn't know that there was such a thing in the late twenty-first century.

"No, by Jeffries' tube." She pointed to an almost invisible door in the bridge floor, right behind the helm and navigation stations.

"Wow." Keenan said, being careful not to say that she did not know that the original Enterprise Bridge had an emergency hatch in the floor.

"I have been in contact with him with my communicator. He's going to knock on the bottom of the hatchway four times as a signal that it's him and not one of those pointy eared criminals."

As the communications officer spoke, he did just that. Masters stepped over to the trap door and operated the controls to release the security locks. The rim of the door made a swishing sound when it opened, and Kirk emerged.

"Report."

"The Romulans have taken control of the lower decks and are holding most of our engineering crew down there—those they haven't killed, that is." Masters added with a bit of sadness in her voice.

"What about the computer?"

"Still rather uncooperative, sir, although something is happening to improve its attitude. What that is, I'm not quite sure."

Kirk looked at Astrid with a bit of surprise and consternation. This was no place for a civilian at a time like this. She should have stayed in her quarters.

"What are you doing here, Miss Keenan?"

"The computer in the turbolift wouldn't take me to the 'safest part of the ship', being that sickbay isn't safe anymore."

"Speaking of sickbay, have you seen McCoy?"

"No, sir. I went straight to the elevator from my guest quarters."

Bailey took a step forward.

"Will we be able to get our ship back from their evil clutches, Captain?"

"I certainly hope so."

Just then, the lights dimmed and the computer terminals went dark.

"What happened, Rand?" Kirk asked Janice, who was standing at Spock's station. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen his first officer in a while, either.

"It would appear, sir that the computer is shutting itself down."

"Like M-5?" Asked Uhura.

"I certainly hope not."

***

Jame Finney stepped back into the auxiliary control room and found Spock sitting at a computer terminal. He had taken one of the computers apart and was examining its innards.

"Mr. Spock, boy am I glad to see you! What are you doing?"

"I am endeavoring to fix someone's errant programming, Miss Finney, and have temporarily shut off the non-essential systems." He paused for a moment, and turned to look at her. "Would you care to assist?"

"I'd be glad to, sir."

"How did you know it was I and not a Vulcan criminal?"

"I would know the back of your head anywhere, sir."

***

Sarnel had been guarding the entrance to the Auxiliary Control room, and, as Finney approached, he smiled ever so slightly. She was obviously not a criminal. She was too young and too small, and was wearing one of those short red dresses that some of the female crew people on this ship wore.

Before she appeared, he had considered seeking out the woman he was bonded to by his parents' arrangement, but then reconsidered. She was one of the leaders of the breakaway emotional thugs. Her name was Rihan. She was thoroughly convinced that the pursuit of emotions over logic was the true way, and it would have been impossible to convince her otherwise. The other leader was a man named Mintak. Rihan had attempted to divorce Sarnel by the Kalifee, choosing Mintak as her champion. It would not be wise for Sarnel to approach her now.

As Spock and Finney continued to work on the computers, Sarnel went back to guarding the entrance to the auxiliary control room. Spock had given him a phaser and had attempted to instruct him on its use, with limited success. Sarnel realized that he was putting himself in a potentially dangerous position, but he also felt that this was the least he could do for the round-eared ones. They had saved him from a grisly death.

Spock paused and studied the look on Finney's face. She knew by his expression that the gig was up.

"You are the one who did this, aren't you?"

She swallowed.

"How did you know?"

"A process of elimination. You obviously learned a great deal about computers from your father. There are only a select few people on board who could have done this kind of work. The nature of the computer's behavior tipped me off as well."

"I…I'm sorry, sir. I really am. I didn't know that it would go this far." She said as a tear fell onto the table.

"There is no use in crying about it, Miss Finney. There is also not much I can do at this moment. However, later you will go on report for your actions."

"I understand, sir." She replied, straightening and drawing in a deep breath.

Outside, Sarnel froze. The criminals were approaching. They took one look at him and charged. The first one to reach him was Rihan. The cold savage steely look in her eyes was the last thing Sarnel saw before he lost consciousness.

***

The people on the bridge had begun to relax a little. Astrid was the only one who was as nervous as a cat. Without warning, the Romulans burst onto the bridge from the main turbolift. The remaining security men present fumbled for their phasers. Uhura fired and missed, and a Romulan twisted the phaser out of her grasp, breaking her wrist in the process. Astrid's eyes grew wide. The one who appeared to be the leader, a steely-eyed black haired woman, was carrying something she immediately recognized.

"_OH NO! NOT THAT!" _She screamed. A burst of energy emanated from the artifact, and everyone in its wake fell to the deck. Astrid was knocked against the bulkhead, hitting her head hard in the process. She was out for the count. Kirk bravely tried to wrestle the device out of the Romulan's hand, without success. The female criminal broke his arm and the captain sunk to his knees in pain. He glanced around the bridge. Bailey and Stiles were dead, as well as the security officers. The Romulans dragged whoever was not to the brig, and this time the force fields stayed on.

***

Astrid awoke to the sound of a police siren. He stopped and with a stern look in his eyes, started to write out a ticket for loitering on a Sunday, and a summons to appear before a tribunal for letting her vidi-set get destroyed.

"Oh, please, officer, don't give me a ticket!" She begged tearfully. "I fell asleep and dreamed I was in Star Trek's universe!"

"That's no excuse, ma'am." The police officer replied as he faded away. Her surroundings quickly followed as she regained consciousness on board the USS Enterprise in the brig.

"She's coming to, Captain." McCoy stated, bending over her. "You've got quite a bump, young lady."

Astrid tried to sit up and winced with pain. Then, she wondered if they heard what she had said to the dream police.

Kirk knelt by her side, his arm in a makeshift sling.

"Miss Keenan, are you from another universe?"

There was no use in avoiding the issue now. She nodded in the affirmative.

"In my reality, this is a very old science fiction television show that I have loved since I was a child. I know all of you very well."

"What was that thing that the Romulans used on us?"

"Easy, Jim, with the twenty questions." McCoy interrupted softly. "Can't you see she is suffering from a concussion?"

Astrid smiled.

"It's all right, Doctor. That, dear sir, was a thought amplifier."

"A what?"

"It…amplifies violent emotions." She sat up carefully, with help from the good doctor.


	6. Chapter 6

Time Trek, Chapter 6

On the bridge, there were signs of life after all. Lieutenant Kevin Riley slowly got to his feet, his body feeling like an overused pin cushion. The shock of being thrown against the helm by some unseen force was still working on his nervous system. As he stood, he puzzled over the twenty-first century woman's last words before he was incapacitated.

"Oh,no, not that" he muttered to himself. How could she have known what was in store for the bridge personnel? More interestingly, how did she know what that mysterious device was that the Romulan was holding? He heard a soft groan at the science station.

Janice Rand awoke for the second time that day. The wound on her forehead was bleeding again, and the bandage had flown off to some as yet unknown location. She gave Kevin a grateful look as he helped her to her feet. Dizzy, she sat in the nearest available chair and scanned the room with her eyes for other possible survivors. She also made a silent inventory of missing crew people. The captain, Masters, Uhura and Keenan were gone. Everyone else appeared to be dead.

"You're a sight for sore eyes, yeoman." Riley said gently. "Are you OK?"

"I'm not really OK, but I'm just happy to be alive. What was that thing, anyway?"

"I don't know. Our guest from the past seemed to know, though."

"That's very strange. Sir, I think we had better wonder about that later when we have more time. We have to stop the Romulans from taking complete control of the ship. The question is…where do we start?"

Riley thought about it for a few moments.

"If I were the captain, I think the best thing we can do is get to auxiliary control if we can."

"What if we run into those hoodlums on the way? Mr. Riley, we need phasers." She paused and looked around the room for any that may have been dropped. She didn't see any. "It looks as if these Romulans took the others."

"Let's head for the weapons room, then."

"Aye, sir." Rand answered with a little smile, remembering that he outranked her.

***

In auxiliary control, Jame Finney shakily got to her feet. Spock was gone. In the grand tradition of Finney fakery, she convinced not only the Romulans who attacked them but Spock as well that she had met with an early demise. They had just finished the repairs on the computer at the moment of the attack, and now she wondered if she would have the strength to use knockout gas to stop the Romulans. She seated herself at the terminal and thought about that for a moment. If she released the gas now, she would have very little time to drag just one Romulan onto a transporter pad and into space. No, there had to be a better idea. She went to a nearby weapons locker and entered her security clearance to obtain a type two phaser. She decided to heavily stun the varmints one at a time and do a little bit of transporter quick-stepping. In other words, she planned to beam out crew members from the brig and substitute them with Romulans, thus saving the ship and her reputation.

***

The Romulans weren't all powerful. Scotty had managed to tackle the two who were guarding the trapped engineers, and had escaped with a very green eighteen-year-old baby named Chekov. The lad was a nice kid, but he was getting on his nerves just a tad, taking too much time babbling in Russian about this and that, but he was turning out to be an adequate addition to the crew, and as sharp as a tack. They had also considered deploying gas to subdue the Romulans, but thought better of the idea as well. The Enterprise crew had to be better protected and prepared for such a ploy. They decided instead to go to the bridge and temporarily disable the navigation and helm to prevent tampering by their unwelcome alien visitors.

***

In the brig, Astrid Keenan continued her conversation with the "real" Captain Kirk.

"So, that was some sort of thought enhancer?"

"Yes, sir."

Spock approached them, having been thrown in the cell with them when Keenan was unconscious.

"There have been legends about such a device, but the ancient stories were thought to be apocryphal. It was said that it was broken into pieces and scattered to the winds by the gods."

"I see now what we have to do." Astrid said thoughtfully. "We have to escape somehow and get that device out of Romulan hands. Then, we can beam pieces of it onto several different planets so Captain Picard can find them in the twenty-fourth century."

"Who is Captain Picard?" Kirk asked.

"Your successor, sir."

"How long did this science fiction series last?" Uhura asked, amazed.

"In reality, only three years. However, it ran forever in syndication because people loved it and wouldn't let it die. Then, in 1987, a new incarnation of the classic series was born. After that, came Voyager, then Deep Space Nine, followed by a historically inaccurate series called Enterprise. Also, there were ten motion pictures. Star Trek survived in one form or another for over forty years."

Astrid had wondered how the Romulans knew that she was alive when they left all the others on the bridge. Uhura told her that Masters was the one who had carried her off the bridge. That raised another question: Why did the Romulans allow her to do that? Spock then hypothesized that they may have thought that she was someone who seemed important, or perhaps posed a possible threat to their plans to take over the ship and raid Vulcan. That seemed to Astrid a reasonable assumption. Astrid had spent her conscious hours in the cell considering ways of escape. Most Vulcan telepathic tricks were out, for the Romulans in this era knew almost everything Spock knew, with, of course, the very possible exception of the so-called 'Death Grip'. She then considered the possible sabotage of the circuitry of the force field from within, but, to accomplish that, they would need a phaser. Even if they had one, however, the sound would alert their alien guards that something was amiss. She looked around the cell for the tenth time that hour. Her eyes lit up when they fell upon a large air duct.

"Lieutenant Masters, that duct. Where does it lead?"

"Throughout the ship, Miss Keenan, but the main route it takes is to the main cargo bay." The black woman engineer answered with a puzzled look.

"What good is that information?" Grumbled McCoy. "We don't have a way to get the grid open. It's screwed on tight."

"Screwed on?" Astrid echoed, grinning with amusement. "A late twenty-third century star ship uses screws?!"

"I fail to see the reason for your jocular reaction." Spock said.

"I find it very amusing, Spock, that this ship has any twentieth century technology at all. Captain, we can manufacture a handy 'screw driver' from the replicator."

"The what?"

"The food dispenser." She answered impatiently.

"Interesting." Spock intoned. "What could we possibly obtain from the replicator?" The Vulcan asked, impressed with her use of the correct term for the dispenser.

"It also makes silverware!" She crowed. Then, she realized that they were all looking at each other in puzzlement. "Doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does." Spock answered. "What do you propose, Miss Keenan?"

"We can order up something requiring a butter knife and use the utensil as a screwdriver."

"That's brilliant!" Kirk said. "Let's get to it."  
"By the way, Captain," Astrid added, still smiling, "That means that this cell isn't exactly escape-proof. I think it would be a good idea to fix the replicators to serve finger food so it's not so easy for future inmates to escape."

"Future inmates? Please, tell me more. Does my crew mutiny or something?"

"No, Captain. I won't tell you everything. It would spoil what must be. Besides that, I have a sort of Prime Directive of my own." She paused for a minute, and then her face lit up once more. "Masters, did you say that the duct led to the cargo bay? That's where my car is stored, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is."

"My vidi-set in my car, even when damaged, emits an ultrasonic burst at a would-be thief. If we do manage to get the screen open to the duct, I will have to go with you to insure no further injuries or mishaps."

"You're a brave girl, Miss Keenan." Kirk said, impressed. "Just be careful."

***

Sarnel was not dead. Finney had found the universal translator, which had fallen to the floor when Spock was hauled away by the criminals. She was glad she could communicate with him.

"Are you all right, Sarnel?"

"Yes…Finney. Rihan gave me what is roughly translated as a 'Death Grip'. It is not true death, but close to it. Thankfully, Rihan does not know that. That is our advantage."

She was very impressed that he knew her last name. Of course, Vulcans had excellent memories.

***

Rand and Riley made it to the weapons room after a few close calls. Once there, they decided to lock the door and rest for a few minutes. Rand seated herself on the floor in front of a cabinet of phaser rifles while Riley sat across from her. Behind him was a cabinet full of Number Two's and photon torpedo components. He studied her closely in the dim light for a time.

"What happened to your hairpiece, yeoman?"

Rand smiled.

"I removed it after visiting sickbay the first time. It looks nice, but it weighs a metric ton. It was becoming cumbersome, and now it looks as if we will need all the mobility we can get."

"Agreed. We were lucky that we made it here in one piece."

"Yes, sir." She paused for a moment and looked back at her superior. "It's the luck of the Irish, no doubt." She said with a weak smile.

Suddenly, they heard a sound from outside, and they both froze in fright for a split second. Riley quickly got to his feet, opened the cabinet behind him, took two Number Twos out, and tossed her one. She deftly caught it, stood not so quickly, and went to the side of the door, at the same time setting her weapon to what she hoped was heavy stun force. Riley went to the other side.

"If whoever is out there is a Romulan, they are in for one hell of a surprise." He whispered.

"Same if it's a crew person." Janice whispered back.

Scott and Chekov had succeeded in temporarily locking out the controls on the bridge, and had decided to go to the weapons room for the same reason Rand and Riley had. Once there, Chekov paused with uncertainty.

"Mr. Scott, there is someone in there. I think it's crew. The Romulans would never think of locking the door behind them."

"The weapons room is always locked, lad. That's standard procedure."

"I know, sir, but we are on alert status. The controls for the doors unlock only for crewmembers at that time and someone has entered a code into the lock."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7-Time Trek

Everyone in the brig cell knew that the Romulans guarding the crew could go for days without sleep or food if necessary. Nobody in the cell with Kirk had seen their captors eat anything or sleep for the past couple of days. This had caused a constant state of tension among the human crew members and it was starting to work on all of them, with the possible exception of Spock. The Vulcan hypothesized that the criminals were probably not as self-disciplined as other Vulcans and that it wouldn't be too much longer before they went to find food or get some rest. That would be the time to carry out Astrid's plan to go through the air ducts, providing, of course, that the people chosen to loosen the screen and go through it were able to hold out until that time.

A few hours later, after McCoy got through chiding everyone about thinking of food 'at a time like this', people did begin to nibble here and there from the replicator after Kirk had to order them to, to keep up their strength. Despite that, some were showing signs of stress.

Suddenly, one of the Romulan guards turned off the force field, at the same time keeping an acquired phaser trained on them. Uhura noticed that it was set on a wide field and to kill. Despite being outnumbered, the Romulans were the ones with the guns. Kirk ordered everyone to stay where they were and to not make any sudden moves. It would have been foolish to rush them. Spock reminded them all that Vulcanians were much stronger than the average human. Uhura said she found that out the hard way, holding up her hand. McCoy had managed to make a makeshift splint for her injured wrist. The Romulan guard grabbed Masters and roughly shoved her out of the cell. The force field snapped back on a second later.

"Masters!" Kirk shouted with concern and with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

The woman engineer could not answer him, for the Romulan had given her a neck pinch and had slung her over his shoulder like an old knapsack.

***

Tension was thick between Riley and Rand as they awaited their fate. They did not have long to wait. Rand noticed something very odd with the door mechanism. Someone was entering a security code that she recognized.

"Lieutenant Riley!" She gasped. "I know who that is!"

"Don't be so sure, yeoman. It could have been picked by random by a Romulan trying to get in."

Riley held his breath while Rand relaxed a little, but kept her phaser trained on the entrance. The security code was for a young fellow from Scott's section named Chekov, a brand new addition to the Enterprise crew. She knew it because everyone had to give their security code by entering it into the system with the destination coordinates in the transporter room when they beamed down. She was a transporter trainee, one of the few people on board who had access to that kind of information.

The door swished open. Scotty entered first, and then smiled.

"Don't fire, Mr. Riley. I'm pretty harmless." He then saw Rand. "Rand too. How nice. I'm sure glad that you two are crew. There was no doubt in this young lad's mind. Pavel, that can be dangerous. You have to be constantly on guard in situations like this."

Rand remembered Chekov because he was a very good looking boy. He was too young for her, but extremely likable and very cute. Riley lowered his weapon quickly, returning Scott's grin.

"Likewise, sir. It's good to see you and Chekov too."

"Now that we have found one another, what's next?" Rand asked.

"I think we should try and track down more of our crew, in the meantime, picking off some nasty old Romulans along the way." Riley said enthusiastically.

***

Captain Kirk was unusually pensive in the brig cell. McCoy had a feeling that he was concerned over the fate of their assistant chief engineer.

"You seem preoccupied, Jim." He observed gently.

"I just have the feeling that we have just lost another crew member." Kirk answered soberly.

Astrid spoke up, in an attempt to lift his spirits a little.

"That's impossible, Captain. Only red-shirted extras got killed off. Masters will be OK."

"What?" Kirk responded incredulously.

"Even though she was in only one episode, she is still remembered fondly. I doubt very much that she would be killed off so quickly after meeting old cliff-diving Lazerus."

"How can you be so sure? You said yourself that she was in only one episode."

"Well, we never heard of her getting killed in any other episode. She just seemed to fade into the woodwork. Besides, I have a strong feeling that she is still alive. Call it a hunch."

"My gut feelings tell me otherwise, Miss Keenan, but I hope you are right."

"One cannot always rely on human 'gut feelings', Captain." Spock said. "I, too, sense that Masters is still alive. It is more of a sense of her life force."

"Thank you, you two." Kirk said with a forced smile.

***

Jame Finney found a utility belt in a nearby storage locker, put it on, and placed the translator on it so it wouldn't fall again. She and Sarnel then went to the sensors to see if they could determine where the crew was being held. She found that most of them were in brig cells, although a few still lingered in engineering. She then had the idea of turning the tables on their unwanted guests by deactivating the brig force fields remotely. However, the equipment designed to do that was in the main transporter room.

When they arrived there, the area seemed deceptively quiet. Taking her phaser from the belt, Finney approached the door cautiously. She needlessly waved Sarnel to the side of the door, and was about to step through the threshold when Sarnel gasped. Mintak was approaching.

"FINNEY!!" He shouted.

Mintak's huge hand clapped tightly over her face before she had time to turn around. She could not gather enough oxygen to scream in fear, but had the presence of mind to jab him with her elbows. He didn't even wince. She used all of her Starfleet training in an attempt to escape, but there was one thing they didn't teach cadets in combat training, and that was how to stop a seven-foot Vulcan with his hand over a face from administering a neck pinch. She fell in a heap, her phaser clattering to the deck along with her.

Sarnel had had enough. He snatched Finney's gun from off the floor and aimed it at her assailant. He was a heartbeat away from pulling the trigger when Mintak knocked it out of his grasp.

Sarnel froze for a split second, and then charged. The two Vulcans rolled on the floor, Sarnel punching at Mintak with all of his might. The larger man fended off the wild blows easily, and grasped Sarnel's shoulders, holding the son of Surak at arm's length. He spoke to him in Vulcan.

"Kroykah, Sarnel! Listen! I no longer follow Rihan. She is a disgrace to the Vulcan people, even though I still believe emotion should not be stifled. I have no quarrel with your new alien friends. I do not wish to harm anyone, including Finney."

"You have had a change of heart?" Sarnel asked warily, feeling a little foolish in his grasp.

"Yes. I wish to start my own society somewhere, where emotions will be allowed, but tempered with reason. Your new friends may drop me and my group off anywhere. We will not resist."

"Will you please let me go?" Sarnel hissed. "I want to see if Finney is uninjured."

Mintak complied. Sarnel knelt beside the unconscious young woman.

***

The four Starfleet officers crept through the corridor. All were tense and all had their phasers primed. Scott led the way, followed by Chekov, Riley, and Rand. They all heard the sound of heavy footsteps, and swiftly ducked around a corner. Several Romulans appeared. One of them saw Janice and aimed a phaser at her. Chekov shoved Janice out of harm's way with super human strength, he and the alien firing at the same time. Rand briefly had the wind knocked out of her, but Chekov could not get out of the way in time, taking the phaser beam meant for her. Scotty and Riley fired simultaneously a second later, disintegrating the intruders. Rand was the first to notice that Pavel had been hit. She knelt beside him and checked for a pulse.

"You brave, wonderful little fool." She spoke to the unconscious young Russian. "He's alive, at least." She said, looking up at her shipmates. "What now?"

"Let's take him to my quarters." Scott said thoughtfully. "They are near here."

"Then what, Mr. Scott?" Riley asked in concern. "Chekov needs a doctor. It looks like he's been heavily stunned with a Number Two phaser. A lot of people don't survive that type of stun."

"He's got to survive. He saved Rand's life."

***

Kirk was the first to notice that the brig force fields had been deactivated. He motioned to Uhura, who, in turn, quietly directed the attention to the others to the fact. Now was the time to put their combat training to good use. The trick was to wrestle the phasers and other weapons away from the two guards without ending up like the captain. Spock and McCoy volunteered first. Spock gave one of the guards a very painful-looking neck pinch while McCoy, who still had his medikit handy, took care of the other Romulan by creeping up from behind and giving him a shot that would knock out a herd of charging rhinos. The crew continued with the other cells down the corridor. They then dragged the criminals back into the brig cells and manually re-established the force fields. The ship was soon fairly secure, except that Rihan and her band of outlaws could not be found.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight-Time Trek

Lieutenant Charlene Masters came to her senses on the deck of the bridge. Instantly, she decided to keep her eyes closed and continue to feign unconsciousness to gain a small but important advantage against her captors. She could tell she was on the bridge by the familiar sounds of the surrounding equipment. She soon found out why they took her captive and what they planned to do. She was surprised that the captain had forgotten that she was raised on Vulcan and was able to both speak and understand the language, even in this ancient dialect. She kept her mouth shut in the brig and in the transporter room, the latter because she didn't know whether Sarnel was friend or foe, and the former for fear of being killed if the criminals found that out. The criminals planned to take the star ship back to the planet and, with her help, destroy it from orbit. Of course, she was not about to let them do that. She then decided to open her eyes and get to the helm and navigation to lock out the controls. Being previously in the brig, she did not know that Scotty and Chekov had already done that until she got there.

The first things she saw when she opened her eyes were three of the cutthroats looking down at her. One of them alerted Rihan, who was near the science station. He was brandishing the thought projector device the Enterprise crew was introduced to earlier. Masters eyed it warily as she got to her feet.

"What do you want?" She asked in Terran English. She knew it was illogical to ask this question, but she wanted them to think that she was completely at their mercy. Rihan barked an order to force her to the helm. The man with the device shoved her so hard that she almost tripped on the step leading down to the captain's chair. "Jerk" She hissed.

She sat at Sulu's station, and immediately knew that the controls had already been locked with Scotty's own codes, which she, as the assistant chief engineer, recognized. Since the Romulans obviously did not know what she was doing, she had the ultimate advantage. She quietly drew in enough air and held her breath. She pressed the toggle switch to release the knockout gas. The Romulans, caught off guard, fell to the deck. There was no time to lose. She raced to the turbolift, scooped up the dropped thought device, and sprinted through the elevator doors. They swished shut behind her, and she was finally able to breathe.

"Deck six." She ordered, taking in fresh air. "Seal the bridge doors, computer. Security access Masters 2B 3B Enable."

"Command codes recognized." The computer droned calmly. "Bridge doors secure."

***

Finney still did not really trust Mintak, but then reminded herself that Vulcans rarely lie. Perhaps he was serious about turning over a new leaf. She was hoping that was the case, because, in addition to the neck pinch, he had almost asphyxiated her. She had recovered from the former, and was now looking nervously through a hooded viewer. She was surprised and overjoyed to discover that most of the Romulans were in the brig. There were a few on the bridge, and they seemed to be unconscious. Smiling, she quickly worked the transporter controls, not really caring if her calculations were precise for intraship beaming.

***

Scotty, Riley and Rand, still unaware of the ship being almost secure, were deciding what to do about their predicament. Chekov's vital signs were deteriorating. None of them had to be doctors to know that. Scott then decided that he and Riley would go for help. Rand, horrified at the prospect of being left alone, looked worse than Chekov. She did not want to seem too cowardly, so she put on a brave front. She could not keep it up for long, and started to weep softly.

"There there, lass," Scotty said compassionately with a gentle hug. "It's going to be all right. Don't worry. I'm going to get some help for Pavel. We won't be long."

"What if Chekov dies, sir? It's all my fault. I should have never let that Romulan see me."

"Nonsense, Yeoman. It could have happened to anyone." He looked down and took his phaser off his belt. "Here. Riley and I will develop a code that will be easy to remember for when we return. I want you to lock the door and wait for three raps. God knows a Romulan wouldn't knock." He smiled at her reassuringly.

She managed a weak one in return.

"All right, sir. You two please be careful."

"We will, Janice." Riley answered with assurance.

***

Captain Kirk had ordered Astrid Keenan to stay in her quarters, presumably for her own safety. The twenty-first century guest did not want her space adventure to be over just yet. It had not been very exciting, most of the time, to be stuck in the brig with the crew for two days. She had a strong feeling that some of the Romulans were still at large. She also was beginning to get the feeling that there was a purpose for her being on board besides the happenstance of the Guardian placing her here.

Before the captain had a chance to order a security guard to protect her from real or imagined harm, Astrid managed to sneak out of her assigned quarters again. Being a civilian and not a Starfleet officer, she felt that she didn't really need to take orders from Kirk. She still had the disadvantage of not knowing where she was going, but that was half the fun of this adventure.

To her delight, she miraculously found the auxiliary control room. She still had a strong feeling that the ship was not yet fully secure. She recalled that if someone like her, who knew nothing at all about star ships, they could learn what they needed to by studying the stored computer information in this little room. She decided to ask the computer for directions on how to reach the cargo bay. She wanted to retrieve her vidi-set for use against whatever Romulans may still be lurking about.

She slipped in, looking around warily. True, it was a bit dangerous to be out by herself, but she was a big girl. She also considered herself smart enough to keep out of sight. There were a number of impressive-looking machines around her. She didn't really know which one was a computer terminal until she spoke.

"Computer?" She called out with uncertainty.

"Working" replied a tinny mechanical female voice from a grid near a tri-screen in front of her.

"I need a map to the cargo bay. Can you produce one for me?"

"Affirmative."

"Great! Please do."

A piece of paper began to emerge from a slot under the grid. When it was out completely, Astrid picked it up to examine it. Her happiness at her success soon evaporated. The map the computer supplied was quite confusing.

"Uh, computer…just tell me the quickest way to the cargo bay."

"Turbo lift Three. When the lift stops, go three doors to your left. The cargo bay is on the right side of the corridor."

"Turbo lift three…" Astrid repeated, making another attempt to read the map. She found the turbo lift indicated, but could not determine what deck she was presently on.

"Computer, what deck am I on?"

"This is deck two."

"Is Turbo Lift Three on deck two?"

"Affirmative."

Good. Astrid now knew exactly where she was. The map clearly showed that the lift was just four doors down from her present location. It was now proving to be a little more useful. She smiled, folded it neatly, and stuffed it into her pocket. She thanked the computer, but, of course, it didn't answer.

***

Finney, Sarnel and Mintak crept out of the transporter room. Finney paused for a second, and the Vulcans did likewise. She noticed that the lock on Scotty's door was engaged.

"I think someone is in there." Finney said into the universal translator. "I can hear them moving around."

"I think you are correct." Sarnel said. "I hear a woman weeping. I think she is pacing back and forth."

"Oh? I didn't know Vulcans could hear that well."

"From what I have observed, your race does not possess our hearing acuity. No offense."

"None taken, Sarnel." Finney said with a smile. She went to the door and knocked three times….

Rand was pacing back and forth like a caged lion, worried as hell about poor little Chekov and the fate of the rest of the crew. Every once in a while in the past hour, she had gone to poor Pavel to check for a pulse. He appeared to be barely alive. She wrung her hands and continued to pace, crying softly. Where were they? Scott and Riley should have been back with help by now. She had been too frightened to peek out the door. What if they didn't make it? She tried to wipe that thought out of her mind, at the same time, wiping a tear. She approached Chekov's bedside once more.

"Hang on, Pavel! Please hang on! Help is on the way." She knew she wasn't sounding very convincing.

Suddenly, there were three knocks on the door.

"Oh, thank you, God!" She breathed, unlocking the door at last. The door opened. She was quite taken aback to see Finney there. Then, she saw Mintak, and let out a blood curdling scream, collapsing in a dead faint.

***

Astrid soon regretted her decision to go to the cargo bay. Oh, she made it all right, but, right at this moment, she was watching with horror as Rihan threw a dagger into the chest of another red-shirted security officer. Then, the evil woman grabbed Masters, who suddenly appeared from around a corner, grabbed the bloody knife from the dead guard's chest, and held it to the woman engineer's throat. Astrid drew in a breath. What could she do? She remembered her device in her hand, and suddenly knew exactly what to do. Bravely, she let her presence be known.

"Hey, Romulan scum pile! Your mother was a Le-Matya!" She suddenly realized that that was a beast from the animated series, one she forgot to mention to Kirk in the brig. She did not know why she forgot it until now.

Masters gasped, and had a mixture of astonishment, concern, fear and amusement on her face. She stared at the girl and shook her head quickly, as if to say, 'Don't mess with this witch, kid!' Astrid continued quickly to make the Romulan think she was still talking to her. "I will give you this device," She held the vidi-set out, "if you will release my friend. It is much more powerful than the one you are obviously looking for."

Masters felt the cold blade of the wet dagger dig a little deeper into her flesh.

"What did she say?" Rihan asked curtly in Vulcan. "Lie and you die."

Charlene was grateful that Astrid had pronounced the name of the Vulcan beast incorrectly. They would probably be both dead if she hadn't.

"My friend said that she will give you that device she's holding if you will release me. She said that it is much more powerful than the one you seek."

Rihan seemed very much impressed that the human woman could speak Vulcan.

"Really? I want to see this for myself. Have her set it on the floor and move away from it."

Masters couldn't believe her ears. She smiled ever so slightly. It was not impossible to keep a straight face, given the circumstances, but it was difficult. She addressed Keenan.

"Astrid, set your device on the floor and back as far away from it as you can. Our Romulan friend here needs a demonstration."

Keenan was much more frightened than Masters, but there was an amused twinkle in her eye. She did not dare crack a smile. She quickly complied, and ran over to the engineer as Rihan released her and stepped towards it.

As the device emitted the ultrasonic burst, and the alien fell, both women grinned and relaxed. Astrid looked at the unconscious Romulan.

"I told you it was powerful."

The two laughed with relief.

"Are you all right, Ms. Masters?"

"Fine, thank you. My first name is Charlene." Masters said, picking up the dropped dagger.

"I know. What do we do with her?"

"Drag her sorry ass to the transporter room and beam her back into the brig."

Astrid raised her hand.

"High five!"

"What?" Masters asked blankly.

"Hit your hand on mine. It's a sign of camaraderie."

"Oh" Masters answered, complying with uncertainty.


	9. Chapter 9

Time Trek-Chapter Nine

Soon after Rihan was beamed back into the brig, the two women heard a horrendous scream. McCoy, Riley, Chapel and Scotty heard it too and all broke into a run. Riley saw what he thought were three Romulans at the entrance to Scott's quarters. He quickly set his phaser on stun and wide field and fired. The three crumpled to the deck. They then heard a thud of a body falling to the floor. They raced in, McCoy taking the lead, almost stepping on poor Janice.

"Doctor!" Chapel gasped. "I think they did something to Yeoman Rand!"

Bones did a quick examination and shook his head.

"No, she just fainted and hit her head again. She'll be OK. Where's Chekov?"

"Over there on my bed." Scott answered, pointing. McCoy got up off his knees and glanced at Christine.

"Take care of Janice, Nurse. Chekov's bound to be in much more serious condition."

"Aye,sir." Chapel replied, looking with concern at the yeoman's face, which was as pale as milk, except for the deep cut on her forehead and multiple abrasions and contusions. She appeared to be in deep shock, so Chapel looked around the room for a blanket. She saw one, and put it over Janice's supine and still form. She flipped open her communicator for some backup orderlies and told them to bring two stretchers; one for Janice and one for Pavel.

McCoy examined Chekov for a few minutes.

"He's barely breathing. It looks like the phaser beam collapsed his right lung. He's been heavily stunned all right. Nurse, do you have a portable respirator in your emergency medikit?"

"Yes, Doctor. I was just about to get it out for Rand."

"Chekov needs it more. Bring it here, please." McCoy ordered, giving the young Russian a small dose of tri-ox compound. It would keep his system going and help him breathe until he could get him to sickbay. The nurse quickly complied.

"Will the lad be all right?" Scotty asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Yes, if I get him to sickbay right away. Want to carry him?"

"Certainly."

Masters and Keenan, both a little breathless, stepped through the threshold.

"Hello, everyone. Can we help?"

As Scott and McCoy carried poor Rand and Chekov out the door, the others paused at the threshold for a moment, in an effort to figure out who it was that Riley stunned.

"Hey, wait a second!" Astrid said with an amused smile. "Mr. Riley, you stunned one of our own people!"

Riley had a startled expression on his face.

"You don't say. Who did I stun?"

Masters bent down for a better look.

"Take that helmet off. She looks familiar."

Astrid frowned as she complied.

"Come to think of it, she does."

"Riley," Masters said, "That's Ensign Finney!"

"Finney?" Astrid repeated the very familiar name. "What's she doing on board? I thought…"

"Riley, have McCoy give you an eye examination! That's an order." Scotty barked.

"Yes, sir." Riley responded a bit sheepishly.

"I recognize the other two." Masters continued. "That younger Vulcan is Sarnel, the pilot of the deportation vessel. The older one is Mintak. As far as I can tell, he must have forced Miss Finney and Sarnel to knock on Scotty's door."

"I doubt very much that a Romulan would bother to knock on a door." Astrid said. "They would just barge in, wouldn't they?"

"Usually. However, in this case, Mintak might have been thinking of the element of surprise, judging from poor Janice's reaction."

"Yeah," said Chapel. "She was surprised all right. Let's get Sarnel and Finney to sickbay. We can come back for that ape later." She added, looking at Mintak with disgust. "He should be out for at least an hour."

***

Mintak awoke and found himself alone. He could hardly blame the round-eared ones for leaving him here. They considered him a 'Romulan', which must mean 'enemy' in their language. He certainly looked the part. He was unusually tall and not very handsome. His face was marred with many battle scars. However, unknown to most of the crew of this ship, he was a sensible person, and knew when to use logic when it was called for. Rihan, his former partner in crime, had lost the ability to reason, and saw these unfortunate beings as a roadblock to her evil plans for killing and conquest. To Mintak, on the other hand, they had come to represent a vehicle to get away from war-torn Vulcan and onto a different way of life. He had grown weary of fighting. Rihan seemed to revel in it. He got to his feet, still a bit disoriented from the phaser stun, but now determined to release the people who agreed with him in the brig. He looked around and searched for the translator device that Finney had dropped. He found it quickly, picked it up, and headed for the brig.

***

Captain Kirk had returned to sickbay because his arm was giving him fits. McCoy had not had the opportunity to set it correctly and it hurt terribly. He had ordered double guards at the sickbay entrance, and his resourceful crew had made security guards out of engineers, since a lot of security had been done away with by the Romulans. As he entered, he saw that the good doctor and the other medics had their hands full with casualties. Things were slowly getting back to normal on the bridge, now that the Romulans were in custody. Before departing, he had ordered Farrell at Bailey's post to plot a course for the nearest star system, which happened to contain an obscure planet that star charts had identified as Mintaka III. Kirk thought that was ironic, considering that one of the criminals was named Mintak. The Enterprise had made history again, and did not even know about it until now. He also now came to the conclusion that there must be two factions among the Romulan prisoners. He felt that Mintak and his group somehow belonged on that planet.

He found McCoy studying overhead readouts on a young comatose patient. The kid did not look old enough to vote, much less work on a star ship. Kirk searched his memory for a name. Oh, yes. Midshipman Chekov, recently transferred from the Potemkin, after successfully completing a training course. He was fresh out of the academy and as green as grass. Kirk hoped that the doctor would be able to save him.

McCoy caught Kirk's reflection in the glass on the overhead panel and, not turning, greeted him.

"Hello, Captain."

"Report, Doctor." Jim ordered, wincing as a stabbing pain traveled up his injured arm.

"Twenty-one dead, fifty injured, and seven unaccounted for at present. I take it you're here to get your arm properly set."

"Yes." James Kirk then caught a glimpse of Yeoman Rand. "My god, Bones, what happened to Yeoman Janice?"

"She's suffering from multiple concussions, exhaustion and shock. Mintak scared her half to death when…" McCoy suddenly halted in horror. "Captain! We forgot him! He was at the entrance to Scotty's quarters with Jame and that Vulcan pilot!"

***

Mintak crept towards the holding area cautiously and stealthfully. He observed the humans guarding the cells. They were all tense and alert—not at all like they were when his and Rihan's group first encountered them. He surmised that something must have gone wrong with their advanced technology. They had made the fatal error of depending too much on it and they paid dearly. He actually felt sorry for them. He also realized that he had grossly underestimated the intelligence of these beings. The one called Riley could have easily killed him, and it was a wonder that he didn't.

With that thought in mind, the Vulcanian took a step forward out of the shadows. One of the guards, startled, shouted a warning to his superior—a tall thin man with blond hair, wearing a red jumpsuit.

"Kyle!"

The blond man turned in the direction the other human was staring and found himself face to face with the most gruesome-looking Romulan he had ever seen. He hid his fear well and aimed his weapon at him. Mintak slowly raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, the universal translator reflecting the lights overhead. The guard who had shouted had his phaser poised as well.

"Hold your fire." The Englishman quickly ordered. "He is unarmed."

Mintak took another step forward in their direction. "That's far enough, mister." Kyle growled. "What are you doing here?" He addressed the alien harshly. "What do you want?"

"I wish only to release my followers." Mintak explained simply, amazed when the translator converted his Vulcan into their language.

"Fat chance. You aren't going to release anyone."

"You do not understand. I am not your enemy. The woman Rihan is. If you release my people, we will cooperate with you. Drop us off on that planet that you are now orbiting."

"Should we trust him, sir?" The other guard asked. Before Kyle could respond, Captain Kirk appeared from around a corner, accompanied by a well-armed security detail. McCoy had knitted his broken arm before he departed sickbay. It still ached, but the captain held his phaser steadily.

"Not yet, Lieutenant." The captain ordered, eyeing Mintak warily. "All right, you. Pick out your group and separate them from the rest." He took out his communicator from his belt with his other hand without looking and opened it. He kept his phaser trained on the alien all the time, not taking his eyes off of him. "Wilson, do you have the Romulans' coordinates?"

"Affirmative, sir." Answered the young black engineer in the transporter room.

"Good. Stand by until I determine which ones to beam down to the planet." He put Wilson on hold and addressed the Vulcanian. "No tricks or I will kill you."

Kyle, from experience, wondered if Kirk was serious or bluffing. There was only one way to find out.

"Corbomite, Captain?"

"Absolutely not, Mr. Kyle."

***

Pavel Chekov awoke to the sound of his amplified heartbeats. He realized then, with relief that he was in sickbay. Everything he could feel, which wasn't much, hurt. Every nerve ending felt like needles digging into his flesh. His throat was dry and his head ached and throbbed. He must have had his mouth open when he was unconscious for it to be so dry. Unsure of the status of the crew or of the ship, he attempted to sit up, but a wave of dizziness stopped him. He felt a gentle hand on his tingly shoulder.

"Don't try and sit up yet, Ensign." A man's voice admonished softly. Chekov was puzzled over why he called him 'ensign'. "In addition to the heavy stun, you also sustained a severe concussion when you hit the deck."

Chekov's eyes tried to focus on the person who was speaking to him. They finally succeeded.

"M'Benga?" The young Russian rasped. "I thought you only worked on Vulcans."

The black doctor smiled.

"If I only worked on Vulcans, I would have a lot of time on my hands. Actually, my specialty is multi-species medicine, so I work on humans too."

"That's…nice to know, Doc." Pavel managed to croak. "Why…?"

"Why did I call you 'Ensign'?"

Pavel nodded and saw stars.

"The captain gave you a promotion when you were out. You are now the ship's head navigator."

"What did I do to earn that?"

"You saved a life." M'Benga paused and looked at Chapel. "Christine, will you please give this boy some water? He looks a bit parched."

"Right away, Doctor." She replied dutifully.

After taking a sip through a straw, Chekov settled back down with help and felt a little better as he drifted off into sleep, still puzzling over the promotion, but very happy.


	10. Chapter 10

Time Trek, Chapter 10

Kirk had ordered Masters to escort Keenan back to her assigned guest quarters and begged her to stay this time. She told him she wasn't planning on any more excursions. Mintak's group had been beamed down to their new planet and they were now on course to Romulus to drop off the others. Before dematerializing, Mintak had apologized to the captain for scaring Yeoman Rand so badly. He didn't realize he was that scary-looking. Of course, the universal translator had been confiscated, but Spock was there and interpreted his words.

Masters and Keenan went down the corridor quietly.

"I suppose my space adventure is over now." Keenan said pensively.

"Don't feel too badly, Astrid. At least you got to meet the crew. Isn't that supposed to be every science fiction fan's fantasy—to meet the fictional characters they have loved for years?"

"You're very perceptive, Charlene. That's exactly right."

They paused at the entrance to her assigned quarters. Suddenly, there was a whizzing sound, akin to a Capellan Kligat slicing through the air. It was Rihan's sharp dagger. To Master's horror, she realized a moment later that it was the same one that had killed the security man near the cargo bay. It sliced deeply into Keenan's arm. The girl screamed and sank to her knees. Swiftly, Masters whipped out her sidearm, quickly set it to kill, and fired at the Romulan woman. She hit the alien's chest dead center. The Romulan fell in a heap. Masters quickly assessed Keenan's wound. It was a very deep cut, almost to the bone, with a lot of blood. The knife must have severed a vein or an artery. Quickly, the woman engineer took off her gun belt and used it as a tourniquet. By now, her twenty-first century friend was barely conscious and was going into shock. Masters ran to a wall communicator and flipped the switch with a bloody hand.

"Masters to sickbay! Medical emergency at Keenan's quarters! Hurry!"

***

Astrid came to consciousness quickly after Doctor McCoy repaired her injury. She had not dreamed this time. At least, she did not remember dreaming. In a way, she was relieved. She had detested that other life she had left behind. On the other hand, the fact that she had not dreamed at all since that day they were all placed in the brig left her a little concerned and wondering why. She could not fathom a possible reason, but, after a while, she made up her mind that somehow she was being integrated into this universe. She liked that idea, and stuck with it, in hopes that she was right.

She found herself lying in a bed next to Rand's. The poor yeoman still looked as if she had been run over by a truck. Astrid could see an ugly bruise on her forehead, which was partially hidden by a fresh bandage. Other than that injury, the rest of her looked as if the cloud creature from "Obsession" had drained all the hemoglobin from her body. Astrid felt sorry for her, but then realized from Master's worried expression that she must not look too great herself. McCoy was also there, taking readings from her overhead panel.

"Well, it's about time." He said gently. "How do you feel?"

It took some effort to turn her head to look at him. It felt like it was going to float right off her shoulders.

"Are you all right?" Masters asked anxiously.

Keenan nodded. The movement made the room tilt and spin. She was glad she was lying down.

"For a gal who just gave blood the hard way…" Astrid rasped, her eyes focusing on the woman engineer. "What happened? How did she escape? Did you get her?"

"She escaped through that hole we made in the air duct." McCoy answered instead. "Masters almost killed her. M'Benga is working on her now."

"Any more of them escape?"

"No. Everyone else was too beefy." Masters answered.

McCoy and Keenan both smiled with relief. The doctor looked at the engineer.

"Speaking of beefs, Charlene, the captain might get a little miffed if you don't return to duty soon. Don't worry about your friend, here. She'll be back to normal by tomorrow morning. If you hadn't had been there…"

"I know, Doctor. She'd be pushing up daisies."

"Thanks, you two." Astrid said gratefully.

"What are friends for? Besides, you saved my life, so now we're even."

Keenan suddenly grinned devilishly.

"M'Benga, hah? Boy is he going to have fun!"

"What do you mean?"

"The Vulcan form of self-healing, of course." McCoy stared at her in puzzlement. Masters grinned back at her. "Doctor, don't tell me you don't know about it. I know this is only first season, but, jee…."

***

"Captain's log, screw the star date." He paused, noticing the bridge crew was stifling giggles. They knew that star dates were meaningless five thousand years in the past, but their captain rarely said anything so off-the-wall when recording his log. He smiled and continued. "Things are slowly returning to normal and we are now heading to Romulus to drop off our…guests. The Vulcan pilot of the deportation vessel, Sarnel, had elected to be dropped off on Mintaka III after we deposit the Romulans on their new home world. We now have to figure out a way back to our own time and space. My only hope at this point in time is that we don't run into any more alien trouble."

Kirk stopped the recorder and looked at the passing stars on the view screen. No matter how they decided to do it, they were in for a mighty rough ride. Going back a paltry three hundred years via the slingshot effect and the black star had been child's play. Returning to the twenty-third century from some five thousand years in the past was another matter. He saw only two options, both equally dangerous. The slingshot effect would have to be attempted several times, and Kirk did not relish the thought of the Enterprise being roughed up like that. The other option was a controlled implosion of the engines—a reverse application of what they had done after pulling away from PSI 2000. That idea seemed slightly less hazardous, but the crew had already been through too much stress in the last couple of days. There had to be a better way. He decided to go to sickbay and consult their mysterious passenger. Maybe she had some knowledge on how to get them back home. It was worth a try. She seemed to know everything else about them.

"Mr. Riley, I'm headed for sickbay to have a talk with Miss Keenan. You have the conn. ETA to Romulus?"

"Five point eight light days at current speed, sir."

"Increase speed to warp six, Lieutenant. I want to get rid of those bums as soon as possible."

"Aye, Captain." Riley answered, a little amused, although he was still clearly worried about Janice. McCoy had assured both him and Scott that she was going to be fine, but neither man knew whether to believe him or not. Riley did not dare ask permission to accompany the captain to see for himself, for he and Scott were needed very badly on the bridge at the moment.

Kirk had confined Ensign Finney to her quarters for the duration of the flight home. She had recovered quickly from Riley's phaser stun, but her career in Starfleet was probably over. She had made a request to apologize to the crew for her nasty little trick with the ship's computers, and for scaring Yeoman Rand half to death. The captain could see that Jame was filled with remorse, but that didn't change the fact that she was going to be court-martialled, since even striking a fellow crewmember was grounds for such an action.

Kirk's thoughts then shifted back to their guest from the twenty-first century as he went into the turbo lift. What was he going to do about her? She had made it clear to him in the brig that she had no intention of returning to the totalitarian world she had left behind. He didn't blame her one bit, but it disturbed him to know that she knew absolutely everything about the crew and this universe. What would she do if she was to be returned to her Earth? Surely, no harm would come to her if she were to tell of her adventures on the Enterprise. Who would believe her? After all, she did say that his crew and he, himself were all just fictional characters from an old science fiction television show. If she did tell anybody anything, she would most likely be hauled off to a mental institution somewhere.

***

The first thing that Janice Rand became aware of was the gentle warbling sound of a medical scanner above her aching head. Cautiously, she opened her eyes. She was greatly relieved to see Nurse Chapel holding the little device and taking readings.

"Finally!" Christine said softly. Happily, she turned and called to McCoy, who was tending to another patient.

Bones came up from behind Christine and studied the panel above Rand's head. He noticed that the K-3 indicator was well above normal. Janice was in a great deal of pain, which came as no surprise to either of them. She had suffered at least three hard blows to her cranium and had screamed so loudly she had temporarily damaged her vocal chords. Janice attempted to speak, but soon found out for herself that her voice was gone. The effort brought more pain and tears formed at the corners of her eyes.

"I'm sorry…" She mouthed weakly.

"Sorry?" McCoy echoed in puzzlement. "You have nothing to be sorry about."

"Ch…Chekov…" She managed to whisper. "Couldn't…protect him. Is he…?"

"Chekov is fine." McCoy assured her. "In fact, he's now in better shape than you are."

***

Astrid had gone back to sleep, and was not awake to witness Rand's recovery. This time, when she opened her eyes, she saw Captain Kirk standing at her bedside. McCoy and Chapel were apparently off treating other patients. McCoy requested that Jim not stay very long, for Keenan was still pretty weak from loss of blood.

"Captain…?" She addressed him groggily.

"How are you doing, Miss Keenan?"

"All right, I guess, sir. Thanks. To what do I owe this honor, Captain?"

"I have come to ask you if you know of a way we can get back to our century without too much danger to the ship."

Astrid considered his question thoughtfully for a moment. They were not yet due to know about Gary Seven's transporter or the Actavacron, so she decided not to mention them.

"Slingshot effect? Controlled implosion?"

"Very dangerous, both. I need something else."

She then thought of the Q and Trelane. The crew wasn't due to know about the Q yet, either. She also thought that Kirk would quite probably prefer to dine on "Conspiracy" grubs than to ask for Trelane's help. There was only one alternative left.

"How about returning to the Guardian planet? The worst thing that could happen would be if it said no."


	11. Chapter 11

Time Trek, Chapter 11

Sarnel and Keenan had been released from sickbay early the following morning. Sarnel had recovered quickly from Riley's phaser stun, but M'Benga was a little concerned that the young man was approaching his first Pon Farr, so he gave him a shot to slow it down. Masters, who had returned to sickbay to check on Astrid, cheerfully escorted them back to their guest quarters.

Sarnel had requested Rihan's dagger, explaining to Masters who translated his words that if he had it in his possession, there would be less danger from her. What he didn't tell them was that he was fed up with the way the remaining criminals had treated these good people. The humans had saved all of their lives, and he felt that someone who saved another's life deserved better treatment. Sarnel sorely hoped that his newfound friends were not telepathic. He had a hunch they weren't, but there was a good chance that the one named Spock could pick up on his true feelings about his ex bond-mate. Sarnel also felt it was illogical for Rihan to continue to exist. She was clearly insane, and the only way to stop her from hurting any more people was to put her out of her misery.

***

McCoy was astonished and a little concerned about M'Benga's state of mind that morning. It was apparent that the doctor had stayed up all night tending to Rihan. The Romulan woman, even when unconscious, looked foreboding and menacing. When asked why he was working so hard to save her, M'Benga explained that perhaps if they all continued to be kind to her and her people, then maybe they would start to be a little nicer to them. McCoy thought that his attitude was laudible, but his reasoning was reckless. The chief medical officer watched him as he lifted her eyelids. The alien woman was stirring. Suddenly, M'Benga smiled wickedly, rolled up his sleeves, and glanced back at McCoy.

"This is revenge, sir!"

With that, he slapped the woman hard across the face. McCoy couldn't believe his eyes. Another slap, this time so hard Bones could see green finger marks on her now angry face. Without warning, her eyes snapped open and her hands flew to the doctor's throat. She squeezed and was satisfied with his reaction. M'Benga gasped and flailed, unable to breathe. McCoy, seeing that the Romulan was damaging his esophagus, attempted to free him from her vice-like grasp without success. Rihan was standing now. M'Benga lost consciousness and slumped to the floor. McCoy, recovering, grabbed a nearby hypo, unsure and uncaring of its contents, and tried to press it into her arm. She effortlessly knocked it out of his hand and shoved him head first into a bulkhead. She quickly exited sickbay.

McCoy regained his senses a few minutes later and Chapel helped him to his feet.

"Christine, inform the captain that Rihan is at large again, and then go to the dispensary and fill that hypo on the floor with sedatives for the more high-strung patients. The last thing we need around here is a coronary."

"Understood, sir." Chapel responded dutifully, quickly heading towards the nearest wall intercom. She thought Bones looked pretty haggard. It was no small wonder. All these deaths and injuries had kept this whole department hopping during the last day or so. As the intruder alert alarm sounded, she heard the captain's authoritative voice informing the rest of the crew about Rihan's escape.

***

Astrid heard the alert, but no long felt it necessary to needlessly put herself in danger. She stayed put in her quarters, now frightened and tense. This was no longer fun anymore. She began to pace. It was then that she saw something made of stone, partially hidden under her bed. Pausing, she knelt and touched it. Her eyes widened with recognition and her emotions ranged from wonder to astonishment. It was the thought projector! Masters must have hidden it under there when Astrid was recovering from the knife wound. Gingerly and reverently, the Trekker slid it out and picked it up in disbelief. What now? How was she going to keep the Romulan woman from guessing its location? Keenan knew that Vulcanians were very perceptive, and were able to pick up on strong emotions like fear. Astrid had to keep it away from the Romulans, so, in the future, Captain Picard would be locating pieces of it among many different star systems. Carefully, Astrid put it back where she found it, of course, placing it out of sight. She just hoped that Rihan wouldn't pick up on her vibes.

***

Christine Chapel froze as she observed Rihan heading away from her, moving like a panther on the prowl. She had just exited the dispensary with a filled hypo of sedatives. Realizing in a moment that she had not been seen, the nurse decided to follow the alien, setting the hypo in her hand for a Vulcan dose. Chapel shadowed her for a time, trying her best to keep out of sight. At last, she was close enough to get in a good shot.

Rihan spun and glared at her balefully. Horrified, Chapel froze again. Rihan took one look at the instrument in her hand and knew what the nurse was planning to do. She lunged towards the terrified human woman and grabbed her wrist, squeezing until she heard the sounds of bones shattering. Chapel yelped in pain and sank to her knees. The hypo clattered to the deck and was now directly between them. She made a grab for it with her uninjured hand, but Rihan was quicker. The last thing Christine heard was the hiss as the hypo discharged….

***

Rihan sensed that the thought device was nearby, picking up on Keenan's fear. However, she chose the wrong quarters, bursting in on a very startled Finney instead. Jame started but kept her wits about her. She backed up to her desk and switched on the intercom to the bridge.

"Captain! Help! Rihan is—!"

The Romulan woman, without a word, grasped the sides of her head roughly and began a forced meld. The pain was excruciating, and Finney screamed in agony. She felt her thoughts merging with the alien's. Rihan wanted to know where something was. Images of the thought device appeared in her mind's eye. She tried to tell the Romulan that she didn't know where it was, which was the truth, but the woman didn't believe her. She probed deeper, and Jame could feel her consciousness ebbing. There was another sharp pain and everything went black.

Sarnel heard the scream and dashed into Finney's quarters, brandishing the dagger. He gasped when he saw what Rihan was doing, and then plunged the weapon into her side, piercing her heart. Rihan pivoted in astonishment, gasped his name, and then dropped dead.

Sarnel heard running footsteps as he withdrew the blood-stained dagger from Rihan's body.

McCoy knelt and took her pulse.

"She's dead, Jim."

"What about Jame?" Kirk asked anxiously. McCoy went to her and took some tricorder readings. For a moment, he was silent. "Bones?"

"I'm sorry, Jim." Leonard said softly. "There's nothing I can do."

***

Astrid heard the scream and her blood ran cold. Terrified now, she hid behind her bed, shaking. Suddenly, she felt a tremendous sense of guilt. Was she the cause of whatever had happened to Finney? Would Rihan come and kill her? She was curious as to what happened, but could not bring herself out of her hiding place. Fear overrode everything.

McCoy quietly instructed the orderlies to take the corpses to the morgue. One of them explained that there was only room for one more, and that he would place Finney on an empty bed nearest the morgue. McCoy thought that was just fine, but told them to put a sheet over her to indicate that she was dead.

Spock was not so sure of Finney's demise. Sarnel wasn't, either. However, since they did not know human physiology too well, they decided to keep silent. It was fortuitous that Finney would not be placed with the corpses, if, indeed, she did come back to life. Spock then thought of Keenan, excused himself, and pushed her door buzzer.

Astrid jumped, and peeked over the bed at the door. The buzzer sounded again.

"Miss Keenan, are you uninjured?" Came Spock's query.

Sighing with relief, she stood and brushed herself off.

"Yes, Mr. Spock." She answered.

"May I enter? There is still a chance that a Romulan may have escaped through the air duct in the brig."

"Of course, sir!"

As he entered, she was tempted to give him a big Neelix hug, but restrained herself. She was more curious as to what happened. Spock sensed her concerns and answered them.

"It appears that Rihan killed Miss Finney. Do not fear, however. Sarnel killed her. I will take you to sickbay. It is—"

"The safest part of the ship." She finished for him.

"Precisely." He paused and studied her expression for a moment. It was one of puzzlement. "Is there something on your mind, Miss Keenan?"

"Yes, sir. A couple of things, in fact. Did I alert Rihan that the thought device was hidden in here?"

Spock raised an eyebrow.

"What is it doing in here?"

"I think Masters hid it while I was in sickbay."

"Interesting. What is the other thing on your mind?"

"First, please answer my question."

"I do not believe that your apprehension had anything to do with the attack and murder of Miss Finney."

"Spock, I can't believe she's dead! In fact, I don't think she should even be in this adventure. She was only in one epi—sir! How long ago was it that Captain Kirk was accused of murdering her father?"

"That was three years ago. Why?"

"I think the Guardian must have screwed up this timeline when it did itself in with my car. In the television series, it was only a matter of months. There is another reason why I don't think Finney is dead. The Vulcan—"

"Death Grip." Spock finished with an amazed look on his face. "Technically, there is no such thing as a Vulcan Death Grip." He added.

"I know. It is rather imprecise to call it that, since the victim is only 'dead' for a short time. I'm curious, sir. How long does one of those things last?"

"It varies with the individual. Anywhere from fifteen minutes to a half an hour."

"We'd better tell McCoy when we get to sickbay!"

"We shall."

***

Scott and Riley joyfully beamed the remaining Romulans out of the brig and down to Romulus. It was a fine piece of transporter work, and they were both very happy to get rid of the aliens. They were now off-duty, so they decided to head for sickbay to finally see how Rand was doing. Young Chekov had been released an hour before Rihan's demise, and was now at his new post on the bridge. On their way there, they discovered poor Chapel, still unconscious from the large dose of sedatives.

"Is she dead too?" Riley asked as Scott knelt to check her pulse.

"No, lad. Just unconscious. Let's get her in sickbay. Her heart rate is very low."

McCoy finally had a moment's respite from all the injuries and deaths. M'Benga was still unconscious, and lay on the same bed as the one that Rihan had been on. He was going to recover. His esophagus had been injured when the Romulan woman tried to choke him. Bones gasped and then sighed as Chapel was brought in.

"I was wondering where she went. What happened to her?"

"I don't know, Doctor. We found her near the dispensary."

"We found this beside her." Riley said, holding out the empty hypo.

"Oh, great! She tried to be a hero! Fine thing. I ask her to do one simple thing….Place her on the bed over there, Scotty."

***

Janice came out of a light slumber, feeling much better. She was still dizzy and her head still ached a little, but the rest she had received helped a great deal. She was delighted to see Scotty and Riley standing at her bedside.

"Hello, Sleeping Beauty." Riley greeted jokingly.

Janice grinned, and then grimaced with pain. She imagined that she looked a mess, but it was nice of him to say that. She looked around the room for a short time, but had to lay back down again when the room started to spin.

"Flattery will get you everywhere, sir."

Everything was quiet and serene around them; just the way McCoy planned it. She knew that he was probably extremely busy. Suddenly, she frowned with puzzlement. "Scotty, what is wrong with that overhead panel over there? That patient is dead, isn't she?"

Scott and Riley followed her gaze. Kevin saw movement. The body was covered with a sheet, but he and Scott both saw the chest rise and fall.

"Could the lass be alive?" Scott wondered aloud. The two men raced to the bed. Riley put an ear to Finney's chest.

"She is!" Riley crowed. "McCoy!!"

At that moment, Spock and Keenan walked through the door. They heard Riley in the next room. McCoy did too, and quickly followed them in.

"She's alive, sir!" Scotty said, amazed.

"I knew it!" Keenan cheered.

McCoy did a quick examination and couldn't believe the readouts. What he found was that there was no brain damage from lack of oxygen. However, Finney was not regaining consciousness.

"Why isn't she waking up?" McCoy wondered aloud.

"Try a physio-stimulator." Astrid suggested brightly.

McCoy did just that. Finney opened her eyes and gasped for air.

"What…happened to me?" She asked hoarsely.

"That will take some time to explain." McCoy answered, looking at Spock and their twenty-first century guest questioningly.


	12. Chapter 12

Time Trek, Chapter 12

After explaining to Finney what had happened to her, Spock and Keenan went back to Keenan's quarters to retrieve the thought device. He watched with interest as she reached under her bed and withdrew it, holding it carefully in her hands. Suddenly, the red alert alarm went off. She started and dropped it. It broke into three pieces. Uhura's voice could be heard over the intercom, apologizing. She inadvertently pushed the wrong button at her station.

"I'm such a butter fingers, Mr. Spock. I'm sorry."

"Do not be, Miss Keenan. The Stone of Goll in this condition will not function. Besides, it was meant to be. In the brig cell, you said that Captain Picard would some day be finding it scattered among many different star systems."

"You got that right. Mr. Spock, I know that this thing is of great cultural and historical significance to your people, but we can't take it back with us."

"I am well aware of that, Miss Keenan. We would be altering history. Do you have any ideas as to its disposition?"

Keenan looked happy to be asked, and nodded in the affirmative.

"Let's have Sulu and Chekov pick out the star systems and deposit each piece in a different location. I can't recall the system names right off hand, but if I had a star map, they will come back to me."

"An elegant solution, Miss Keenan. You, Dr. McCoy and I have one more errand, and then I will escort you to the bridge."

"One more errand, sir?"

"Yes. We have the pleasant task of telling the captain that Miss Finney is alive."

McCoy, Spock and Keenan stopped at the entrance to Kirk's quarters. Scotty had already reported with relief in his voice that all of the Romulans were indeed beamed off the ship, and the engineering crew was all busy making repairs and adjustments that could not have been done during the takeover. They were also preparing themselves for possible time travel, should the captain find out that that was the only way to get home. For a while, their concern was how the di-lithium crystals would hold out over five thousand years of stress. Then, to everyone's astonishment, more crystals were found lying on the floors in the brig cells. Spock came to the conclusion that these were the stones that bore the family names of all of the Romulan prisoners. The criminals had left them there to signify complete separation from the life they once knew on Vulcan.

Chapel and M'Benga were recovering in sick bay; also Uhura had dropped in after she accidentally hit the wrong button with her injured appendage, which was still in a makeshift splint. McCoy did a proper repair of both her injury and Chapel's. Jame was being detained in sick bay for a complete physical, and Rand had been released and was placed on light duty. She had made a request for a transfer to a less stressful position on Earth, should they get back to their own time safely. Kirk reluctantly granted it. She was the best personal yeoman he ever had, and he hated to see her leave the Enterprise, but realized it was for the best.

The ship was now on course for the mysterious Guardian planet. Kirk, greatly saddened at the loss of his friend's daughter, stared at her personnel file picture on his tri-screen. He was just about to mark it 'deceased' when his door buzzer sounded.

"Come in." He ordered softly, not turning to greet whoever was calling.

"Are we disturbing you, Captain?" Spock asked formally.

"No." Kirk sighed unhappily. "I dropped the charges against Jame. I didn't want her service record to end this way."

Keenan and McCoy grinned at each other.

"She'll probably be happy to hear that, Jim." The doctor said cheerfully.

Kirk turned to face him in bewilderment.

"That's not very damn funny."

Keenan giggled.

"She's not dead, sir." McCoy said with a smile.

"What are you talking about?"

"He's not putting you on, sir." Keenan said. "Miss Finney was a victim of a Vulcan form of temporary simulated death, commonly known among us humans as a 'death grip'."

"Spock, why didn't you tell me?!"

"I was not certain. I am not an expert on human physiology."

"Bones…" Kirk said, now smiling a little, "Why is it every time you say there's nothing you can do, there's something you can do?"

***

The bridge looked different for some reason as Astrid was escorted there. Yes, the dead had been removed, but it was more than that. The tension she had felt on her first visit had eased considerably. Kirk smiled at Keenan as he seated himself in his command chair, and then looked to the helm and navigation. Spock quietly went to the science station. McCoy excused himself, and rather needlessly explained that he was needed in sick bay.

"Mr. Sulu, Mr. Chekov, I need you to assist Miss Keenan in choosing star systems for the thought device pieces."

"With pleasure, Captain." Sulu responded, both he and Chekov smiling at their guest. They already had the star maps out. At first, Keenan stared at Pavel for a moment, thinking that he shouldn't be on the ship yet, but she was awfully glad to meet him. He was her favorite original character. The young navigator blushed, and turned back to his readouts. Keenan chuckled and peered at the star maps. The locations came back to her in no time. The pieces were, of course, deposited in the Barada system, the Calder system and the Hiralan sector.

After the pieces of the thought projector were safely deposited, Sarnel was dropped off on Mintaka III. Before he beamed off the ship, he gave them fair warning that some time in the distant future, the Romulans would probably avenge the death of Rihan. Kirk didn't tell him that this prediction had already come true.

***

Astrid's mind raced as she stepped towards the nearest turbo lift. She was going to ask Kirk about what he was planning to do once they reached the mysterious Guardian planet. She, of course, knew of his predilection for making sure outsiders like her returned from wherever they came from. Astrid never really knew why. It could be that her presence might slightly disrupt some timeline somewhere, but she doubted it. Her disappearance from late twenty-first century Earth meant nothing, as far as she could see. She was single, unattached. Her parents would probably miss her, but, they told her that if she ever found a way to escape the tyranny of the one-world dictatorship, she should take it and not look back. Besides, judging from the way her poor old car looked, they probably thought she was dead. That brought on another subject: one that she had shoved to the back of her mind. Was she dead? She didn't think so. She didn't believe in an afterlife. In fact, she didn't believe in anything at all, until recently. There was another possibility. Maybe she was in a coma like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz and this was all a dream. She was greatly amused at that, and smiled. That would be just her luck.

She could just hear Kirk's 'reasons' for not letting her stay in this universe. The words 'useless' and 'archaic' came to mind, and left her a little steamed. She may be archaic, but she certainly wasn't useless. Also, with time, she would adjust and adapt, and, she certainly wasn't stupid. She could learn about their technology and way of life. It certainly would be a much better life than the one she left behind. Even if Kirk decided to send her back in the past, perhaps she could pick a time period that was easier to deal with. The nineteen sixties would be great, she mused. She paused, another thought occurring to her. There was something about the Guardian that she almost forgot. It called itself the 'Guardian of Forever'. That implied that it knew about the future as well as the past. Was it able to bring people into the future as well? Neither her past nor the Enterprise crew's past had occurred yet. If the Guardian could only transport people into the past, then there were only a few alternatives left. What if it could transport them into the recent past, before it decided to do itself in? No. Astrid was getting a little bit confused. The Guardian decided to do itself in in the twenty-third century, not the twenty-first or this point in time. All right. What if Kirk somehow persuaded the Guardian not to destroy itself? If the captain managed to do that, then maybe McCoy's dream about going back to the nineteen-thirties would once again become the Enterprise crew's reality, and she would find herself back home, probably with no memory of her adventures on the star ship. Astrid sighed. Captain Janeway was right when she said that temporal mechanics was confusing. She figured that the Enterprise crew was better off using the slingshot effect or the controlled implosion.

She approached her guest quarters, still lost in thought. She jumped a little when she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. She turned and saw Charlene Masters. The black woman engineer smiled at her.

"Hi, Astrid. I thought I'd better apologize to you for putting your life in danger by hiding the thought projector under your bed. I'm glad you're all right. Where are you heading?"

"Oh, hi Charlene. I was heading for my guest quarters. Don't worry about what occurred with the thought device. Besides, I think Jame Finney is owed the apology. From what I know about the so-called Vulcan 'death grip', it's not very pleasant. Later on, I'm going to talk with the captain, because I have knowledge about the Guardian of Forever time portal that he should know."

"I agree. I already apologized to her. She seemed more than willing to forgive me for placing her life in danger, considering her tampering with the ship's computer. Do you mind if I tag along?"

"Not at all. It will be good to have someone with me. I've never talked to a genuine Starfleet captain before, much less one that looks and acts like William Shatner."

"Who?"


	13. Chapter 13

Time Trek-chapter 13

When Astrid and Charlene reached the captain's quarters, Masters pressed his door buzzer.

"Enter" Kirk said.

They complied, Masters taking the lead. Kirk regarded them with interest for a moment. "What is on your minds, ladies?"

Astrid motioned for Masters to speak first. The lady engineer told him that everything was prepared for time travel if he wanted to go that route. Then, it was Astrid's turn.

"Captain…let me start out by saying that I'm not a Captain Christopher. I already knew all about you before the Guardian wrecked my car and…"

"You want to stay." He finished with a knowing smile.

"Yes, sir." She replied with relief.

"That's fine with me, Miss Keenan. You saved Masters' life. I have already given your circumstance some thought. I know how you feel about the totalitarian world you left behind. It would be against the Prime Directive to force you to go where you don't want to be. As a civilian, you are not governed by Starfleet regulations. However…wouldn't it be difficult for you to adjust to the twenty-third century, if we make it back?"

"Difficult, perhaps, but not impossible. I have grown to know and love this ship and its crew, having grown up watching you on television. You are all a part of me. I know what to expect."

"You do have other alternatives, you know."

"Are you trying to get rid of me, sir?" Astrid asked suspiciously.

"Not at all. My crew and I have grown quite fond of you. However, you are a civilian, with no technical training. What would you do in the twenty-third century?"

"Captain, I'm sure that there are people just like me in your century, which are of normal intelligence. I don't believe that everyone has to be a genius to live in your time. For example, take Harry Mudd. He seems to be a pretty normal guy, although a bit of a goofball."

Kirk smiled.

"Yes, I suppose you're right about that. We're still going to the Guardian planet to see if it has a way of getting us back home. Any objections to that?"

"No, sir. I'm just glad that you aren't going to force me to return to the late twenty-first century."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

***

Kirk, Spock and Keenan materialized on the barren surface of the Guardian planet. The famous time portal was right in front of where they were standing. Kirk addressed Astrid softly.

"Before we ask the Guardian anything, I would like to know what you want to do with your automobile. It's still in the cargo bay."

"I don't care, Captain. Give it to the Klingons for target practice, like they will be doing to that poor old 1978 Voyager probe, if you want. It will be no good to me wherever I decide to go. No offense to Scotty, but it's no longer in very good shape."

Kirk chuckled and Spock raised an eyebrow. Keenan looked back at the Guardian with interest. She wondered aloud why it was now intact.

"A QUESTION" it boomed. "SINCE BEFORE YOUR SUN BURNED HOT IN SPACE—"

"Yeah, yeah, we know. You have been awaiting a question." Keenan said. She turned to Kirk. "Forgive me, Captain, but I have heard this thing's spiel a hundred times. Guardian, can it. I was addressing Spock, not you."

Kirk grinned as Spock answered her query.

"I believe the reason that it is intact, Miss Keenan, is because it decided to do itself in centuries from now, either in your era or ours. We are five thousand years in the past, you know."

"Oh, of course. You're right, Mr. Spock. Captain, I think you wanted to ask the Guardian if it can help us get back to the twenty-third century without taxing the Enterprise engines."

"ASK AND I WILL ANSWER" The Guardian boomed again.

Kirk stepped forward, still with an amused smile on his face at her bravado when it came to this machine being.

As it turned out, Astrid found that the Guardian did not have the ability to bring her or anyone else back to the future, because in this time period, the future had not occurred yet. It was designed to scan all time, but could only bring people and objects into the past. However, it did appear on a lonely country road in the twenty-first century in order to end its existence to atone for the sin of murder. Was it involving itself with the future then? Astrid posed the question to Spock. The Vulcan hypothesized that perhaps when the Guardian decided to destroy itself; it was acting in the twenty-first century. In other words, the moment it decided to do itself in was the same moment Astrid was taking her fateful Sunday drive. That was a reasonable theory, considering the Guardian existed five thousand years before the event.

The Enterprise crew decided to use the slingshot effect and the controlled implosion interchangeably to get home. On the second try with the controlled implosion, something very strange happened. Astrid Keenan inexplicably vanished off the bridge right before their eyes in a flash of light.

"What happened to Keenan, Spock?"

"One can only speculate, Captain."

***

Astrid felt herself quickly fade from the Enterprise Bridge. She had the sensation of floating in nothingness for about two seconds. Her eyes were closed and she was terrified. Soon, she felt a floor beneath her feet and she was solid once more. Unnerved, she cautiously opened her eyes.

She found herself in a small chamber that looked like an old fashioned bank vault. She felt a small animal brush against her right leg and looked down. To her astonishment, it was a beautiful black cat with a diamond-studded collar. Then, she became aware of a man standing in the open doorway.

"Isis, you charmer." He picked the cat up and smiled at her. "Welcome back, Supervisor 152. Did you find out all you needed to know?"

She peered at him and suddenly realized who he was. She couldn't believe her eyes.

"Mr. Seven!" She gasped. "I'm no agent!"

The man smiled and offered her a hand out of the 'vault'. She accepted with some trepidation.

"I see you are still conditioned to believe you are Astrid Keenan of the twenty-first century."

"I am!"

"No, you aren't. Your real name is Amanda Rodgers. You're a Q in our employ."

"You're joking!" The girl responded as she was gently led into Seven's apartment. "That's impossible!"

"No, it's true. Astrid Keenan does not exist, and neither do her parents. We had to condition you so you would totally fit in as a latter day Star Trek fan in the late twenty-first century. You were on a secret information-gathering mission. Do you have the Enterprise floor plans?"

"Floor plans?" She echoed in puzzlement. "I don't understand. Where did you get the name 'Astrid Keenan'?"

"You chose the names yourself. Your first name was taken from your favorite childhood author of the Pippi Longstocking books. Your last name is actually a short stretch of road called Keenan Drive in a small northern Minnesota town."

Amanda was now starting to remember who she really was. Seven was right. The road she was traveling on in the late twenty-first century was once called Keenan Drive, a short stretch of highway that connected with Seventeenth Street and highways 11/71 in a small town on the Canadian border with Minnesota.

"The floor schematics, please." Seven requested again. "They are in your pocket."

"Oh, those." She reached into the pocket of her jeans and withdrew the crumpled piece of computer paper and handed it to him.

"Good. Now, how much did Mr. Roddenberry reveal about the real twenty-third century?"

"Nearly everything we saw in the television series was true, sir. No wonder you punished him by making him human and for making his show so good that it was blasted by lame-brained critics."

***

The Enterprise made it back to the twenty-third century in one piece, thanks to the Vulcan di-lithium crystals. The engines needed work badly, so they went to the nearest star system on impulse and assumed standard orbit around Wrigley's pleasure planet. Kirk authorized shore leave for some of his very stressed-out crew. As he settled down to record his captain's log, he heard a sultry voice coming from a speaker in his chair.

"Recording ship arrival…sweetheart. Did you miss me?"

Kirk's eyes widened. It was the ship's computer.

THE END


End file.
